A complex network will be in place to detect a bioterrorist attack quickly during the Salt Lake Games to treat victims right away and stop any outbreak before it mushrooms into catastrophe.
U.S. government plans include moving part of the national drug stockpile to an undisclosed location near Salt Lake City, so that anthrax-fighting pills and smallpox vaccine can be dispense immediately.
At the Olympics, epidemiologists will scour a stream of data from hospitals, pharmacies and Olympic venues, looking for anything suspicious – odd respiratory problems, digestive illness or skin complaints, for example – in hopes of spotting an attack more quickly.
About 500 staff members form the Utah Health Department and smaller local departments from the backbone of the bioterrorism preparedness effort in Salt Lake City. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is sending several dozen staff members, including some of its “disease detectives”. They will form a corps that has been dubbed Epicenter.
