|
Anthrax represents one of the greatest biowarfare
threats. The recent occurrences of anthrax in United
States of America, and the resultant panic
have increased the awareness about the extreme difficulty in handling such
threats in a coordinated manner. The infrastructure available in developing
countries to meet this challenge is grossly inadequate with rudimentary
technical expertise. No central agency for dealing with such outbreaks, or
effectively coordinating the national activities against biowarfare
exists in countries of South-East Asia Region. Accordingly, an Intercountry Workshop on Management of Anthrax was
organized in collaboration with Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention of USA (CDC) and Ministry of Public Health, Thailand
(MOPH) at Bangkok from 6 to 8 December 2001. Epidemiologists
and bacteriologists from nine countries of South East Asia Region and five
countries of Western Pacific Region of WHO participated. Experts from India,
CDC, MOPH, Regional Office for SEA and WHO/CSR Office in Lyons
facilitated this workshop. The workshop was organized to upgrade the skills
of the participants in investigation and control of an outbreak of anthrax.
The workshop was designed to have
considerable interaction of facilitators with epidemiologists as well as
bacteriologists. Specific sessions were organized for epidemiology, clinical
presentations, case definitions, laboratory processing, chemoprophylaxis and
investigation of outbreak. The activities also included lecture-discussions,
panel discussions and demonstrations in the laboratory. A problem-solving
session was also organized between the participants and an expert panel at
CDC, Atlanta, USA through
teleconference. Since most of the countries do not have any well developed
plan of action to respond to the outbreaks of anthrax or any other potential
biological weapon, the participants were guided to develop a plan of action.
They were advised to finalize it in consultation with national authorities.
The workshop highlighted the inadequacies
that exist in the state of preparedness of Member Countries against anthrax
and bioterrorism. It was clearly emphasized by the
CDC experts that processing of environmental samples can lead to aerosolization and such samples must never be handled
unless containment facilities of biosafety level 3
(BSL-3) are available. Mere processing of clinical material may be undertaken
in BSL-2 facilities.
The participants of the workshop
recommended that each country must have a national action plan to meet this
challenge, develop and maintain suitable infrastructure, adopt WHO guidelines
for strengthening of their laboratory and epidemiological capabilities, train
various categories of staff (physicians, public health professionals,
bacteriologists, postal authorities, police etc) develop IEC material as well
as mechanisms to utilize the mass media to prevent panic among communities
and develop effective linkages with various laboratories within the country
as well as outside.
|
