Posted on: Monday, July 1, 2002

City stocks anthrax drugs; 10% of Honolulu covered

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

Cipro is one of two antibiotics the city has stockpiled for use in the event of a bioterrorism attack. Richard Ambo • Honolulu Advertiser

The city has purchased more than 112,000 doses of antibiotics — enough to treat about 10 percent of Honolulu's population — that could be distributed within 30 minutes of exposure to a bioterrorism attack.

The drugs — ciprofloxacin and doxycycline — are used to prevent development of inhalation anthrax among people who may have been unknowingly exposed to the potentially fatal disease. Medical experts say the antibiotics are most effective when taken in the first day or two after exposure. The city's supply would provide one dose effective for 12 hours and allow time to arrange for additional drugs as needed, City Emergency Medical Services Director Salvatore Lanzilotti said.

The city is also installing six biohazard monitoring stations at undisclosed locations. The antibiotic drug supply cost $110,000, and the city has spent another $450,000 on an array of air samplers, test strips and laboratory equipment since Sept. 11, he said.

The state, which has received an $8.4 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has decided against stockpiling drugs, said state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Effler. "(But) I support the proactive approach of the city and county," Effler said.

Having a large supply of emergency drugs is a good move, said Toby Clairmont, chairman of the Emergency Management Committee of the Healthcare Association of Hawai'i.

The thousands of antibiotic pills fit into a storage unit roughly the size of two five-drawer file cabinets designed to be transported quickly to a scene. "Hopefully, we would catch something before people got sick," Lanzilotti said. "It would be preventing illness rather than treating an illness."