[jerseygirl]

I wonder if, given all the threats, emergency room doctors are alerted to suspect bioterrorism when large clusters of people come in with the same symptoms.

[Myrddin]

I wonder if, given all the threats, emergency room doctors are alerted to suspect bioterrorism when large clusters of people come in with the same symptoms.

I'm afraid the emergency room docs in my town would not recognize a disease even if it was tattooed on the victim's forehead. Many ER docs are very focused on dealing with stabilizing trauma cases, drug overdoses and acute stuff like heart attacks. The offer top notch service on the common problems.

Large clusters of people with the same symptoms is likely the only way that a diagnostic process would go down a correct and consistent path...assuming the staff even recognizes a pattern of common symptoms within the set of patients waiting to be seen.

[buckalfa]

In my opinion, only the large teaching hospitals with
trauma centers would have physicians savy enough to
recognize such an occurance and only these facilities
would have the staff and resources to handle victims
in mass.