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NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS
October 5, 2005: On September 24, 2005, biosensors on the Mall in Washington D.C. picked up the presence of tularemia bacteria during a nationwide protest with over 100,000 people attending antiwar demonstrations and the National Book Festival. At least three sensor locations picked up the bacteria and federal health officials are still testing samples from the BioWatch network sensors distributed around Washington DC that collected the germs.
The detection triggered a number of actions as health and Homeland Defense officials tried to determine if the incident was a bio attack or a false alarm. The Center for Disease Control's (CDC) nationwide tracking system was used to look for unusual occurrences of pneumonia-like symptoms in every state. D.C.-area hospitals, clinics, doctors, and pharmacies were alerted to be on the look out for possible cases of the disease.
A week after detection, health officials have seen no patterns to indicate a tularemia outbreak, leading them to conclude that there was no intentional release of the bacteria. Instead they believe that the naturally occurring bacteria was "kicked up" out of the soil by the thousands of feet marching on the Mall. A similar alert occurred in Houston in October 2003, where two air sensors picked up fragments of tularemia bacteria.
Tularemia can cause flu like symptoms and is often called "rabbit fever" because small animals are carriers of the disease in rural areas. Widespread in animals, about 200 human cases of the disease are reported each year in the U.S., mostly in the south-central and western states and caused by handing infected small animals or tick bites.
Tularemia is on the "A" list of the Department of Homeland Security's biohazards, along with anthrax, plague, and smallpox since it was stockpiled by the U.S. and the former Soviet Union as a bioweapon during the Cold War. It can be grown relatively easily and is easily weaponized. Tularemia is easily treatable with antibiotics, but it could be used to incapacitate large number of people if not detected and treated early. Symptoms include a pneumonia-like illness if inhaled, while ingesting the bacteria can cause a sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting.
If the event is ultimately determined to be "background noise," it won't be the first time that new sensors have been inadvertently been triggered by unforeseen activity. After 911, a rush to put radiological sensors into place to detect a "dirty bomb" caused consternation for medical patients receiving treatment for cancer and various diagnostic tests that involved radioactive isotopes. The sensors picked up the isotope radioactivity, triggering an investigation by law-enforcement personnel. Exact numbers of false alarms aren't known, but around 16 million nuclear medicine procedures are performed per year, with patients giving off detectable radiation anywhere from 24 hours to 95 days. Doctors are now providing patients with detailed explanations of their treatments along with telephone and pager numbers. - Doug Mohney