Roundtable panel discussion educates public about anthrax
In response to anthrax scares, Utah State University’s Biotechnology Center and Center for Microbe Detection hosted a biosecurity roundtable discussion Tuesday in the Sunburst Lounge of the Taggart Student Center.
“The risk for anthrax to the general population is very low,” Michael Glass, chief of Special Programs Division, said.
Anthrax is a spore that is very hardy and can last in the ground for hundreds of years, said Bart Weimer, director of USU’s Center for Microbe Detection.
He said food contamination by anthrax is a much greater threat than contamination through the mail. Symptoms of anthrax are much like that of influenza. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and fever, Weimer said.
The best way to prevent anthrax contamination is to wash hands, cook well and keep the work area clean, Weimer said.
He said there is no instantaneous test for anthrax, and the minimum testing time is 30 minutes.
There are three different kinds of infections of anthrax, said Bob Miceli, consulting senior scientist at of the Chemical and Biological Defense Programs-Defense Group Inc. at Dugway Proving Grounds. Anthrax can be contracted on the skin, ingested or inhaled, he said. For anthrax to be harmful through inhalation, a person would need to inhale between 8,000 to 10,000 spores, Miceli said.
Every person requires a different amount of anthrax to be infected through inhalation, said Brad Haack, microbiologist of the Chemical and Biological Defense Programs-Defense Group Inc. at Dugway Proving Grounds.
“Don’t become paranoid,” Weimer said. “The risks have been out there the whole time.”
A major concern right now with anthrax is the safety of the mail handlers, Miceli said.
“It’s not very difficult to imagine how the microns of anthrax can seep out of the pores of the paper,” he said.
For mail handler’s protection, they need to wear masks and disposable clothing, Miceli said.
John Bailey, director of Bear River Health Department, said a program called Health Alert Network allows the simultaneous notification of individual health departments of a serious outbreak. This program notifies departments on the local, state and national level, he said.
Bailey said tobacco-related deaths are a much greater risk than anthrax.
“Deaths from tobacco-related illnesses are the equivalent of three airliners full of people crashing everyday,” he said.
Addressing the fear of water contamination, Haack said the amount of biochemicals needed to deliver a harmful dosage to citizens’ taps is so high that to do so without detection is impossible. Biochemicals do not survive well in a domestic water supply, he said.