Flu crisis exposes large gaps in bioterrorism readiness

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Flu crisis exposes large gaps in bioterrorism readiness

By Frank James, Chicago Tribune(KRT)

WASHINGTON -- Problems producing flu vaccines that raised the specter of a health crisis have highlighted the difficulties facing the U.S. government as it tries to counter terrorists who would attack America with bioweapons.

If terrorists were to strike with deadly biowar agents such as anthrax or plague bacteria, experts fear the nation would be hugely vulnerable, despite the billions of dollars already spent to increase national readiness after the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks and subsequent anthrax-laced letters in 2001.

The U.S. is substantially ahead of where it was three years ago, when the nation was mostly unprepared for such attacks, experts say. But further progress is urgently needed, they say, as terrorists such as al-Qaida are known to be interested in using bioweapons.

"I do think a lot has been accomplished considering where we were a couple of years ago but there's still a long, long way to go," said Dr. Charles Bailey, executive director of the National Center for Biodefense at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

The gaps are worrisome to experts like Bailey, former commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., one of the nation's few facilities equipped to study the deadliest microbes.

As proved by the unsolved 2001 anthrax attacks, in which envelopes containing weapons-grade spores were sent through the mail and killed five people, even crude bioterrorism attacks can be effective.

"It's not rocket science to generate these agents and disseminate them," Bailey said. "Some of these terrorist groups are believed to be capable of doing that. I'm very concerned about it.

"As the biological sciences keep progressing in its technology and know-how, it's going to become even easier for lesser-trained individuals," he added.

Not surprisingly, much of the progress since Sept. 11, 2001, has been to solve the easiest-to-tackle problems......................

The flu fiasco raises serious questions about readiness and responsiveness. Making the vaccine is not difficult, because it has been done many times previously, but reliance on two manufacturers for 100 million doses is literally putting too many eggs in one basket.

Anti-virals have been stockpiled because a flu pandemic, man made or natural, could have a devistating effect

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but there are major problems there also. The same two companies that made the human vaccine are making the pandemic vaccine, so again there are the same issues that led to the human vaccine disaster.

Moreover, the human flu fiasco places a strain on antivirals, and resistance is becoming a problem. This is especially true on the pandemic side because the H5N1 virus is resistanta to Amantadine and Ramantadine, and the remaining antiviral, Tamiflu, has borderline efficacy

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