Hawai'i prepared to treat outbreak, officials say
| • | Officials deluged with calls, but no anthrax found here |
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i has a large supply of powerful antibiotics to treat anyone exposed to anthrax and additional doses could be acquired from the Mainland quickly, according to the state's top bioterrorism response planner.
"The public should be very calm about it," Dr. Laurence Raine said. "I see us as very well covered."
Health officials recognized long ago that Hawai'i's isolation required it to be more self-sufficient than other states in preparing for outbreaks of disease, he said. But it makes little sense to hoard huge amounts of antibiotics such as cipro-
floxacin, doxycycline and amoxicillin because they are expensive and have a limited shelf life.
More than a dozen people in four states have contracted anthrax or have been exposed to the disease through contaminated mail. Officials do not know if the anthrax cases are related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Anthrax has not been found in a human in Hawai'i, but in recent days, authorities have responded to numerous reports of suspicious mail or powder, evidence of how jittery residents are about the possibility of contamination.
Raine said the state Department of Health has been inundated with calls from people describing far-fetched rumors and worries about the disease. For instance, people have inquired whether they should fear contracting the disease at Waikiki lu'aus, and whether they should buy medication before they go.
"People have a concern because they really don't understand it," Raine said. "They're afraid, and I understand were they're coming from."
Anthrax is an acute bacterial infection of the skin, lungs or gastrointestinal tract, and can be fatal. But the disease is curable and can be prevented through inoculation. Most experts do not believe it can spread from person to person.
Humans can be infected with anthrax by breathing large amounts of microscopic spores, touching contaminated material, or ingesting tainted food. Symptoms of the disease include fever, breathing difficulty and exhaustion.
The United States has enough medicine set aside to treat 2 million cases of anthrax, and the Bush administration wants to expand the supply. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has requested that Congress appropriate $643 million to pay for drugs that could treat up to 12 million anthrax victims.
For security reasons, Raine declined to reveal the amount of anthrax medication available in Hawai'i. But he said the state's general policy is to keep a supply that could cover an emergency for 72 hours or more.
The National Pharmaceutical Stockpile maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could provide additional medication within 12 hours if necessary, Raine said. Additional drug supplies are available from private vendors on the West Coast, he said.
According to the CDC, eight huge sets of medical supplies are kept in secure warehouses and can be quickly delivered to the scenes of attacks or disasters. Each of these "push packages" includes 50 tons of medical supplies to treat a variety of biological threats.
If additional specific drugs are required, they could be supplied within 24 to 36 hours, the CDC said. The agency has identified the most likely biological threats as smallpox, anthrax, pneumonic plague, tularemia, botulinum toxin and viral hemorrhagic fevers.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
