posted 06-02-2001 06:02 PM            

U.S. on Bioterrorism Alert for Smallpox
NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, June 1, 2001
LOS ANGELES (UPI) - Los Angeles, Chicago and New York are putting smallpox back on their lists of reportable diseases. The action comes as part of a coordinated effort to identify as early as possible any bioterrorist attacks in the United States.
The last known case of smallpox in the world occurred in 1977, and immunization shots are no longer given. Most physicians in the United States have never seen a case of smallpox.
Until placed back on the list of reportable diseases, it is unlikely that any health professional would even consider smallpox when making a diagnosis. All that will change in the cities receiving three-year grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After someone is exposed to the smallpox virus, the incubation period is between seven and 17 days and usually starts with fever and headache and general fatigue. Then lesions appear that are somewhat similar to chicken pox, usually starting on the face and legs and progressing to the rest of the body. The sores are deeper than chicken pox and leave scars. It becomes communicable from the time of appearance of the first sores until all scabs from the sores have disappeared, which could be two or three weeks.
The disease is spread by droplets in aerosol form. Usually about 20 to 40 percent of the cases are fatal, though modern intensive care may reduce mortality rates.
Smallpox is unique. According to Peter Katona, assistant professor of medicine at UCLA who works with the Los Angeles health department on bioterrorism issues, one case would be an epidemic.
"Smallpox is extremely highly contagious. You don't get one case. You get a lot of cases .... There is no immunity in the community .... It spreads like wildfire .... There's nothing like smallpox. It's incredibly contagious. There are cases where people were walking down the street a hundred yards away, outside a building and they got it .... It's an airborne pathogen."
Patients would need to be placed in isolation, preferably in a room with a negative air pressure, to avoid dispersal. Plans would need to be made for vaccine distribution, ambulances, overloaded hospitals and dealing with the media, Katona told United Press International - a scenario he described as "utter chaos."
Jonathon E. Fielding, director of public health for Los Angeles County, told UPI: "The earlier we can find the problem the less overall damage will occur from spread. If you look at what has happened in Africa with ebola, for example, early identification is really important to preventing spread. What we're working on is to make sure we are as prepared as possible We want to increase the index of suspicion."
Because of the extremely contagious nature of the disease, special laboratories and laboratory methods must be used when working with specimens from patients. Sydney Harvey, the director of the Los Angeles public health laboratory, said that "the county's public health laboratory has undertaken special renovation and trained microbiologists to work with specimens considered suspicious for bioterrorist microorganisms."
If there is suspicion that a case has appeared, the FBI, the CDC and the state health departments would be notified immediately.
Moscow Has the Virus
The driving force behind putting smallpox back on the list of reportable diseases is the fear that some smallpox virus may fall into the wrong hands. By international agreement, the smallpox virus is kept only at the Centers for Disease Control and at an institute in Moscow.
Smallpox vaccine used to be mandatory in the U.S. until 1972, at which point, after there not being a case in the U.S. for about 40 years, the requirement was dropped. There have been laboratory accidents leading to small pox since 1977, but there have been no naturally occurring cases since then.
According to testimony given by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as of 1999 there had been a steady increase in the number of terrorist threats involving bioterrorism, with the most common agent being anthrax. According to FBI testimony in 1999, there were 129 weapons of mass destruction cases opened by the FBI, of which 100 threatened the use of biological agents. The FBI testimony said that terrorist groups in the U.S. and around the world have continued to demonstrate an interest in bioterror weapons.
Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are supporting their surveillance programs with grants made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for $800,000 a year for three years.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International

posted 06-04-2001 05:37 PM            

Boy dies; 13 kids ill in Nevada leukemia cluster
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June 4, 2001 | FALLON, Nev. (AP) --
A 10-year-old boy has become the first to die among 14 youngsters afflicted by a mysterious cluster of leukemia cases in the Fallon area.
Adam Jernee, who became ill about 18 months ago, died Sunday at Orange County Children's Hospital in Southern California, where he was taken to be near his mother's family, said his father, Richard Jernee.

Jernee said he planned to return to the northern Nevada community, 60 miles east of Reno, to press officials to find the cause of the cluster.
Since 1997, 13 children who lived in the Fallon area for varying lengths of time have been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common form of the blood cell cancer. A 14th child was diagnosed with a less common form, acute myelogenous leukemia.
State and federal researchers have made plans to test for air, water and soil contamination in the Navy air base and farming community of 8,300 people.
Health officials have said that normally the rate of acute lymphocytic cases would be about three in every 100,000 people.
Adam Jernee became sick after he and his father moved to Fallon from Oregon in 1999, and doctors found a fist-sized tumor in the boy's chest.
Medication reduced the tumor's size, but Adam was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia.
He underwent two courses of chemotherapy, two bone marrow transplants and radiation, his father said.
Adam lapsed into a coma and awoke just once in recent weeks, Jernee said.
"He opened his eyes," he said. "I told him I loved him."

posted 06-08-2001 10:39 PM            

One dead, at least three others are infected with meningitis
WALNUT CREEK (AP) -- At least one man is dead and three others infected with meningitis after a Contra Costa County pharmacy apparently contaminated cortisone shots with the bacteria, health investigators said Thursday.
A 47-year-old Concord man recently died from the disease after receiving an injection at John Muir Medical Center. Thee others have been hospitalized with the non-contagious disease.
An elderly man who received similar injections also died of meningitis, though it is not clear if that death was related to the contaminated batch of shots.
About 20 patients received the injections into their spines, Contra Costa County investigators said. They said workers at Doc's Pharmacy & Home Health Care Center in Walnut Creek somehow infected the shots before sending them out for use by health workers.