Preparing for the Next Terror Attack — Are we ready?
Intelligence experts believe that it is only a matter of time before there is another terrorist attack in the U.S. With the recent scares in New York and Baltimore and the deadly terrorist bombings in Bali, Egypt, London and Madrid, these attacks are aimed at striking terror among millions of people. Of rising concerns is the fear that terrorists will use biological chemicals against us. What if this suspicious package contained a deadly chemical, such as smallpox or anthrax, are we ready? It appears not.
A study listed in Archives of Internal Medicine showed 631 doctors, mostly medical residents, were given a test prior to completing an online training course. On the pretest, half the doctors misdiagnosed botulism, 84 percent misdiagnosed plague and a case of routine chickenpox was misdiagnosed as smallpox by 42 percent of the doctors. “We’ve got a dangerous gap here and we need a much clearer strategic game plan,” said Shelley Hearne, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, which tracks how well states are prepared for bioterrorism or pandemic.
In addition to...