OK, sorry don't mean to be a thread hog here, but I keep finding these interesting articles that I think you all may find just as interesting. This one re: bio, it's about a year old but still VERY good info. ^^^Coco^^^
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Strategic Tracking of Sniffles
Scientists on Alert for Terrorism Monitor Area Health Factors
By Avram Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 28, 2003; Page A10
Every morning, scientists gather in a secure war room in Howard County to gauge how people in the Washington region are feeling.
Are people buying lots of flu or diarrhea medicine? What are patients complaining about in doctors' offices and emergency rooms? Are doctors ordering more lab tests? How many people are calling 911? How many children missed school? What about animals -- are governments picking up more carcasses?
At the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Scaggsville, a 30-mile drive from the White House, researchers believe quick answers to those questions could save huge numbers of people in a biological attack.
Experts say outbreaks of highly contagious smallpox, starting with only 3,000 infected people in three states, could lead to 1 million deaths if not promptly contained by rapid public health measures. A cloud of anthrax spores released over a congested urban area could cause 120,000 deaths unless antibiotics were distributed at once, according to a computer model released last week. Al Qaeda leaders have obtained materials to weaponize botulinum and salmonella and the chemical poison cyanide, according to U.S. officials, and are close to a feasible production plan for anthrax.
Scientists, though, think they have found a way to use the two or more days it takes a bacterium or virus to incubate, saying their computerized surveillance could alert government officials that antibiotics, vaccines or quarantines might be necessary. More................
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39629-2003Mar27¬Found=trueIn his speech at the DHS anniversary, Bush said there is enough smallpox vaccine to go around now