State may receive $5 million in fed anti-terror funds

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 9:52 a.m.

Nevada is expected to receive at least $5 million in federal funds to help local officials prepare against potential bioterrorism threats, Gov. Kenny Guinn said Monday.

Homeland Security Director Thomas Ridge on Friday promised $550 million in grants to state and local communities for terrorism preparedness. The grants will be administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Guinn said that in a telephone conversation last week, Ridge told him no state would receive less than $5 million in the first round of grants.

The governor said the money should focus on training medical personnel to serve as first responders in a bioterrorism emergency.

The state's hospitals need to be as prepared for a biological attack as they already are for a bus accident or train wreck with numerous victims, Guinn said.

Guinn's comments came at a meeting of the Nevadans for Antibiotic Awareness Task Force in Las Vegas.

That requires more funding, Randall Todd, state epidemiologist for the Nevada State Health Division, said. Money is essential to educate medical personnel about bioterrorism and to update the state's laboratories to handle testing of possible biological agents, he said. State officials should also conduct training exercises to better gauge readiness, Todd said.

Natural disasters, such as floods, usually come with some advance notice and have a defined beginning and end, Todd said. Biological attacks lack such parameters, he said.

"A photograph of the Las Vegas Strip on a regular day and a photograph of the Las Vegas Strip under biological attack are going to look exactly the same," Todd said. "That's the reality we have to be prepared for."

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics has resulted in more strains of drug-resistant bacteria that are harder to treat, health officials said. The task force Monday introduced a series of television, radio and print public service announcements to warn the public of the potential dangers of inappropriate antibiotic use.

The public awareness campaign has taken on a new importance in light of the recent public scramble for Cipro, a powerful antibiotic used to treat anthrax, Dr. Christine Peterson, task force chair and chief medical officer for Sierra Health Services, said.

Antibiotics have become the "magic wand" that some people insist on getting for every illness, Peterson said. But antibiotics don't work on viruses such as the flu or colds, and taking the drugs unnecessarily can be harmful, she said.

Dr. Anthony Marlon, chief executive and president of Sierra Health Services, said he was dismayed to hear reports of Cipro for sale on the Internet and doctors dispensing prescriptions in response to patient demands. The task force will be sending reading materials and handouts to health-care providers to share with their patients, Marlon said.

"If a physician doesn't take a stand on when Cipro is appropriate, who in God's name will?" Marlon asked.