California warned to be ready to deal with 'acute epidemic'.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- California must be ready to vaccinate entire regional populations in the event of a bioterrorist attack, the federal government said in June 2002.

"The risk of a bioterrorist attack is recognized now to be significant and pressing," Jerome Hauer, director of the federal Office of Public Health Preparedness, warned in a letter approving the state's preliminary plans.

While the federal government is preparing to respond, "success in dealing with an epidemic depends primarily on how rapidly and effectively local and state programs can respond," Hauer told California Health Services Director Diana Bonta.

That includes having detailed regional plans to obtain vaccinations or antibiotics from the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, and administer them to the entire regional population within three to five days.

Hospitals in an area need to be ready to handle a sudden surge of 500 acutely ill patients.

And each hospital needs to be ready to set up isolation areas in their emergency rooms for suspected smallpox cases.

California has until October 1 to detail how it will meet those requirements for handling "an acute epidemic," Hauer wrote.