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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 4, 2001
ATLANTA -- The government has begun taking steps to cope with the possibility of a terrorist attack involving smallpox by training doctors to recognize the disease and by vaccinating small teams of experts who would rush to any part of the country to contain and treat an outbreak.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is taking the steps, say they have no evidence that anyone is readying an attack using smallpox, which was eradicated worldwide 21 years ago. But they say smallpox is so deadly that preparing for any attack is important.
Last week, the disease centers vaccinated about 140 members of epidemiologic teams that can be summoned at a moment's notice to examine a suspected case anywhere in the country.
This week, the centers will begin a series of training courses in smallpox for its own employees and state and local health workers. Additional courses will be held over the next several weeks at the federal agency's headquarters in Atlanta.
The vaccinations and course are part of an effort by health officials to respond quickly to any new bioterrorism threats that might follow the recent spread of anthrax through the mail.
"Our concerns are not limited to anthrax," said Dr. James M. Hughes, who directs the federal agency's center for infectious diseases. Those concerns include diseases like botulism, plague, tularemia and smallpox.
Smallpox is of particular concern because of its potential to spread quickly.
Tens of millions of Americans under 30 are susceptible to smallpox because they were never vaccinated; the United States stopped the immunizations in 1972. For the tens of millions of older people who were vaccinated decades ago, the protection may have worn off.