Responding to bioterrorism

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Abstract
Pandora's box has been opened. At the time of writing this Editorial in early November, a magazine editor in Florida, two postal workers in the mail office of Congress and a hospital worker in New York have died of pulmonary anthrax. Thirteen more, including a 7‐month‐old baby, have been infected with anthrax spores sent via anonymous letters. Distributing anthrax through the mail is not an effective way of creating an epidemic. But those who are responsible for this abominable attack have succeeded in another goal—creating panic in the US and beyond. Gas masks in New York City have sold out. Desperate citizens in the US have hoarded so much Cipro—the only antibiotic approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat anthrax—that many pharmacies and medical institutions have exhausted their supplies. Furthermore, hoax letters are confronting public health institutions and infrastructures around the world with perceived terrorist attacks. And this is ‘only’ due to anthrax spores sent by mail. What would happen if terrorists released plague, ebola or smallpox in the subway of New York or Washington during the rush …

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