U.S. to Test Kits with Bioterrorism Countermeasures
Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to give 5,000 homes in the St. Louis area test kits with antibiotics to determine how people would manage drugs they are given to combat a bioterrorism attack, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 29, 2004).
The agency beginning in April will begin screening roughly 20,000 people to determine who will receive the "MedKits."
The goal of the project is to determine the best way to distribute drugs to the public in case of an incident as well as to determine how people would store the drugs.
"This is an important project that not only helps us prepare in this area, but also helps inform national policy," said Bruce Clements, who directs the Missouri Health and Senior Service Department's Center for Emergency Response and Terrorism.
CDC spokesman Von Roebuck said the study is "still a work in progress."
"The whole idea is that if we ever had an emergency situation - say it involved smallpox - we would be able, whatever the location, to augment what states could do," he added.
The antibiotics, which were chosen because of their ability to prevent infections after exposure to virulent bacteria, will be given out in transparent bags along with instructions for use.
The kits contain either Doxycycline - a treatment for anthrax - or Ciprofloxacin, which could be used against agents such as anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia and smallpox.
The agency plans to monitor the families that receive the kits to ensure that they are being stored properly, as well as to "explore attitudes, perceptions and other social and psychological factors" connected to the drugs, according to a Federal Register announcement.
Following the 2001 terrorist and anthrax attacks, the federal government has been trying to determine the best way to distribute drugs. Heath and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said drugs might be stored in the caches around the country or could be distributed by the U.S. Postal Service.
Leavitt also was considering putting the drugs in homes, but said more work needs to be done on how this system would operate. Clements said there was no data available on the risks and benefits of home storage.
"All we have is assumptions. We know that people can be irresponsible with a variety of different drugs. But we don't know whether they would be irresponsible with these drugs. This is cutting-edge research, and we're excited in Missouri to be hosting it," he said (Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 29).
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to give 5,000 homes in the St. Louis area test kits with antibiotics to determine how people would manage drugs they are given to combat a bioterrorism attack, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 29, 2004).
The agency beginning in April will begin screening roughly 20,000 people to determine who will receive the "MedKits."
The goal of the project is to determine the best way to distribute drugs to the public in case of an incident as well as to determine how people would store the drugs.
"This is an important project that not only helps us prepare in this area, but also helps inform national policy," said Bruce Clements, who directs the Missouri Health and Senior Service Department's Center for Emergency Response and Terrorism.
CDC spokesman Von Roebuck said the study is "still a work in progress."
"The whole idea is that if we ever had an emergency situation - say it involved smallpox - we would be able, whatever the location, to augment what states could do," he added.
The antibiotics, which were chosen because of their ability to prevent infections after exposure to virulent bacteria, will be given out in transparent bags along with instructions for use.
The kits contain either Doxycycline - a treatment for anthrax - or Ciprofloxacin, which could be used against agents such as anthrax, plague, botulism, tularemia and smallpox.
The agency plans to monitor the families that receive the kits to ensure that they are being stored properly, as well as to "explore attitudes, perceptions and other social and psychological factors" connected to the drugs, according to a Federal Register announcement.
Following the 2001 terrorist and anthrax attacks, the federal government has been trying to determine the best way to distribute drugs. Heath and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said drugs might be stored in the caches around the country or could be distributed by the U.S. Postal Service.
Leavitt also was considering putting the drugs in homes, but said more work needs to be done on how this system would operate. Clements said there was no data available on the risks and benefits of home storage.
"All we have is assumptions. We know that people can be irresponsible with a variety of different drugs. But we don't know whether they would be irresponsible with these drugs. This is cutting-edge research, and we're excited in Missouri to be hosting it," he said (Bill Lambrecht, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 29).
