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Posted on 05/26/2002 1:58:33 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SALT LAKE CITY -- As always, the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting here this week was part science, part fellowship. But this year, the meeting of 10,000 members of the group was something else: part Agatha Christie.
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The anthrax attacks rocked the world of microbiology, changing how scientists view their work and each other.
The FBI (news - web sites) says whoever sent the anthrax had to have known how to handle potent samples of spores and likely would have had access to labs that have them. That's why the FBI, even as it has cast suspicion on microbiologists by telling society members in a letter that ''it is very likely that one or more of you know'' the anthrax sender, also is counting on the scientists to help solve the crime.
Because of that, microbiologists lost their anonymity and ''hit the front pages,'' says Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation (news - web sites). Some responded to the FBI's appeal by pointing fingers at longtime colleagues.
''I have looked at people next to me and I have wondered,'' says Ronald Atlas, president-elect of the society. ''But then I get mad at myself. These are my colleagues. It's hard for me to fathom that any one of the people I have worked with could be a murderer.''
The FBI's ongoing probe, and microbiologists' role in it, hung over the conference. ''Is the FBI here?'' Daniel Sahm, the conference's program chairman, was asked. ''Not that we know of,'' he replied. ''But don't talk into the water glass.''
The FBI says it did not send representatives to the conference. Bureau officials say they also did not have undercover agents attend because they did not want to be accused of spying.
During the five-day conference, the scientists outlined ways they believe they can help protect the nation from bioterrorist attacks:
* Develop tests to match spores found in the anthrax letters with any that might be found in a suspect's home. The microbiologists showed signs of thinking like cops and prosecutors, worrying about how such complicated science might play before a jury.
* Use math-based models, based on known domestic and international terrorist groups and their activities, to try to predict future attacks.
* Suggest ways to plug holes in the nation's public health system that were revealed during the anthrax attacks. Lessons were learned by the minute as researchers tried to figure out how to test computer keyboards and air vents for anthrax with machines designed to test smaller objects. ''There were no instructions,'' says Tanja Popovic, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites)'s anthrax lab.
Most states' public health offices don't communicate well with public and private labs. Some offices and labs lack the equipment to send e-mails or faxes.
* Prepare for one of the scientists' fears: agricultural terrorism. The scientists stressed the importance of quickly identifying any diseases used in a biological attack. Livestock could be lost by the hour if a scientist were to misdiagnose a highly contagious disease, or take too long to identify it.
The microbiologists also are worried about the White House's push toward secrecy, which has involved pulling scientific information from government Web sites. Some fear that research will be hindered if scientists around the world can't share their work. Others say restrictions are needed.
Meanwhile, some of the scientists are torn by privacy concerns. Last fall, the society honored an FBI request to turn over a list of its 30,000 members in the USA. Then the FBI asked the group to send the bureau's ''profile'' of the anthrax killer to microbiologists around the nation. The group complied.
That led some members who were worried about their privacy to criticize the group's leaders. ''As microbiologists, we are life savers and life enhancers,'' countered Abigail Salyers, the group's president. ''Can we really refuse to help in a murder investigation?''
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