美国努力加强对生物恐怖主义行动的防御(一)
WASHINGTON, Oct 05 (Reuters Health) - The public health workers and healthcare providers the US government would rely on to defend and protect Americans from a possible bioterrorism attack are largely untrained and lack key resources, bioterrorism experts say.
While the US government plans to begin pouring money into programs designed to monitor for and respond to a biological attack--and had already begun making efforts to strengthen these programs before September 11's terror attacks--experts warn that the nation remains vulnerable on many fronts.
This vulnerability is largely due to weaknesses in US healthcare infrastructures, especially the public health system, which the experts suggest has been weakened by years of underfunding. Other problems include physicians untrained in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by rogue germs, sketchy communication response systems and inadequate stockpiles of vaccines and medications for disease treatment.
In a report issued late last month, the US General Accounting Office cited the nation's "insufficient...planning for response to terrorist events, inadequacies in the public health infrastructure, a lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning, insufficient capacity for treating mass casualties from a terrorist act, and the timely availability of medical teams and resources in an emergency."
Since the attacks, Congress and the Bush administration have called for sharp spending increases in the nation's anti-bioterrorism efforts, particularly in health-related programs.
"Clearly, public health is a national security issue," Sue Reingold told Reuters Health. Reingold, a visiting fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, directed a recent war game that simulated a biological attack on the US using smallpox. The exercise, dubbed Dark Winter and held this June, ended with no resolution to the epidemic., http://www.100md.com
While the US government plans to begin pouring money into programs designed to monitor for and respond to a biological attack--and had already begun making efforts to strengthen these programs before September 11's terror attacks--experts warn that the nation remains vulnerable on many fronts.
This vulnerability is largely due to weaknesses in US healthcare infrastructures, especially the public health system, which the experts suggest has been weakened by years of underfunding. Other problems include physicians untrained in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by rogue germs, sketchy communication response systems and inadequate stockpiles of vaccines and medications for disease treatment.
In a report issued late last month, the US General Accounting Office cited the nation's "insufficient...planning for response to terrorist events, inadequacies in the public health infrastructure, a lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning, insufficient capacity for treating mass casualties from a terrorist act, and the timely availability of medical teams and resources in an emergency."
Since the attacks, Congress and the Bush administration have called for sharp spending increases in the nation's anti-bioterrorism efforts, particularly in health-related programs.
"Clearly, public health is a national security issue," Sue Reingold told Reuters Health. Reingold, a visiting fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, directed a recent war game that simulated a biological attack on the US using smallpox. The exercise, dubbed Dark Winter and held this June, ended with no resolution to the epidemic., http://www.100md.com