Anthrax Preparedness In US To Involve Mailmen

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Main Category: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 03 Oct 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Earlier this week the US government announced measures to boost the nation's preparedness against a potentia outdoor anthrax attack: using letter carriers or mailmen on a voluntary basis to deliver supplies and medicines to residents in communities during an emergency.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, have used their authority under law to enable the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) that will allow eligible letter carriers to have medical kits with small amounts of antibiotics for themselves and their families to use in the event of an anthrax terrorist attack.

Should there be an outdoor anthrax attack, the antibiotics will protect emergency volunteers against the bacterium. The secretaries stressed that no imminent threat exists at the moment, but putting the legal framework in place now will ensure a speedy response is then possible if it should be needed.

Leavitt explained:

"In an anthrax attack, time is of the essence in preventing illness and death by getting antibiotics to those who may have been exposed."

"By providing advance protection to letter carriers who volunteer to deliver antibiotics in an affected community, we can gain the benefits of the unique capabilities of the Postal Service to get much needed medicines to those who need it quickly," he added.

Three pilot schemes have already been tested in Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston, as part of the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) and joint projects between the HHS and the Postal Service. These schemes tested how quickly letter carriers could deliver antibiotics from the Strategic National Stockpile to residents on a door-to-door basis. The HHS announcement described them as a "success", saying that:

"This quick-strike capability is intended to buy time for local and State public health authorities to set up points of dispensing for further provision of antibiotics across the community."

Postmaster General John E. Potter said that the letter carrier has "long been a reliable presence in America's neighborhoods," and that this potentially life saving action is seen by the carriers as a natural extension of their role to serve the community.

The CRI is a federally funded program and started in 2004. Its purpose is, in the event of a large scale bioterrorist attack, to enable 72 major US cities and metropolitan areas to respond rapidly by making sure every person in their "entire identified population" has antibiotics within 48 hours of the decision to distribute them is made.

In 2001, 5 people died, including 2 US postal workers based in Washington DC, after letters contaminated with anthrax spores were sent through the US post. Another 13 people became ill, and over 10,000 people took antibiotics to avoid being infected by the spores which can get in through the lungs.

Anthrax is a disease caused by a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) that affects the skin and the gut and is easily treated if caught early. But if it is breathed in, and spores get into the lungs, the symptoms are often not obvious until it is too late for treatment (even with antibiotics) to be effective.

Source: HHS (US gov), Reuters.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD.


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