US Stockpiling Antidotes to Counter a Biological Threat

It could take public health officials days to detect whether or not terrorists had launched a biological attack on any mid-size city in the United States. With that in mind, the Department of Homeland Security is working on a plan to handle a biological threat.

In an article in the Providence, Rhode Island Journal, Amanda Milkovits says Dr. Jeffrey Runge, the assistant secretary for health affairs and chief medical officer for the DHS, testified in front of a House subcommittee about the possibility of a biological threat in the country and how prepared health and Homeland Security officials were to handle it.

In addition to Runge’s testimony, state and federal officials told the subcommittee “that plans and preparation had progressed, but more work needed to be done,” Milkovits says. “The national stockpile of antidotes is being built, the federal government is working with companies to develop vaccines and antidotes to biological threats and more technology is needed to detect an airborne biological hazard.”

But while much of the federal government’s focus has been on explosive devices, Rear Adm. W. Craig Vanderwagen, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee he believes biological attacks and the spread of pandemic flu would have a more widespread effect, touching every level of society.

“What’s also problematic with biological threats, it is not geographically limited,” Vanderwagen testified. “So you’re not sure exactly when it started and you’re not sure when it’s going to end.”

To read the full article, click here: http://www.projo.com/news/politics/content/langevin_homeland_security_07-23-08_SCAUVG9_v14.3f62f4b.html