Chat Ed : Brian and Ian have just arrived :)
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Good evening!
Ian Hoult - EPS : Hello there.
Link : If anthax powder was left around a major underground interchange, such as oxford cirus, How long before enough people would be infected to track the source to this location, and then would there be enough antibiotics to treat everyone who had been in this location, and thus at risk..?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : That sounds to be an unlikely scenario. The concerns about anthrax are either directly touching material that has been presented (as in the envelopes) or breathing it in when it's been in dust or in aerosols. So what was described doesn't really fit with a risk of direct infection of people.
Ian Hoult - EPS : Another point, on the antibiotics - we don't know what sort of numbers we may be talking about, but large stocks of antibiotics are being held at strategic places around the country.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : These antibiotics are nothing very special - they're in use every day for the treatment of infections by the Health Service.
Hot Girl OnThe Loose : wot exactly is anthrax?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Anthrax is a bacterial infection, common in animals in many parts of the world. It infects people when the spores get into the skin to form cutaneous anthrax, or are breathed in from the air, in dust or an aerosol, to produce pulmonary anthrax, which is a severe pneumonia. The skin lesion is a blister that then produces a weeping sore, and a black crust with a lot of swelling. It is readily treated with antibiotics. The pulmonary form responds to antibiotics if treated early.
amanda570 : I have heard that the contamination of water supplies by anthrax and other chemicals is mainly a myth - is this really the case?
Ian Hoult - EPS : Well, it's not a myth, it is possible. We know that terrorist activity previously was trying to do this. But the water companies have taken stringent methods to prevent activity of this kind. Changing locks, and accesses to reservoirs, and more sampling of the water supply before it reaches our taps. There is no threat at all to our water supplies - they are safe.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : It would not be an effective way of spreading anthrax.
sally : we have all been told what Anthrax is and how we could come into contact with it. I am due to fly out to Florida on Wednesday 24 with my four children for a two week holiday, how safe is this place and what precautions could i take?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : I believe it is very safe and there are no specific precautions for a holiday visitor . The precautions are for the businesses and the public bodies. This doesn't spread from person to person.
Ian Hoult - EPS : Anthrax is NOT contagious. If that situation changes (the precautions), the Foreign and Commonwealth office would be offering advice to potential travellers.
MolGen : what would control measures be in VIRAL attacks, where antibiotics are inefficient?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Of the various agents that have been suggested, smallpox is the viral infection. The prevention of that is by vaccination, both after any potential exposure and of any contacts of people who were involved. You would vaccinate the healthcare and other emergency services who would be dealing with an incident.
Al : How early do you have to treat Anthrax?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : For cutaneous anthrax, it is usually treated when the black scab (characteristic of the infection) is present. It IS effective. For the pulmonary form, you need to treat when the symptoms are mild and flu-like. Treatment is less effective when the symptoms are severe.
MolGen : how about chimeric viruses?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : We have no evidence of such genetically-engineered viruses being used although we hear that work was done in the former USSR.
Ian Hoult - EPS : If genetically engineered viruses were to be used then the Government has developed the necessary antidotes to these where possible.
Al : Is there anyway you can tell if you have flu like symptoms caused by Anthrax? So we do not waste the doctors time everytime we cough or feel ill.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : The vast majority of the population are NOT at risk. It would only be symptoms developing in people who had had some evidence of an exposure to an incident. You have to look at the symptoms in the general context of where the person has been, and what they have done.
Chris : What are the symtons of Small pox? and just how easy would it be for a terrorist to distribute in the UK?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Symptoms of smallpox are a febrile illness, with a rash that gives blisters and then crusts, particularly on the extremities but also spreading over the body. It requires knowledge and expertise to handle a virus like smallpox. The concern would be that smallpox can spread from person to person, so you have to identify cases and put a ring of vaccination around them.
carisenda : Don't you think this is just all about creating panic? Relatively anthrax isn't that effective - and the targets, the media, just show this is all about panic - surely we're more at risk of a fatal heart attack...
Ian Hoult - EPS : True.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : I agree. There is far more panic than actual threat to health.
tim worrall : why not mass vaccinations against smallpox asap ?
Ian Hoult - EPS : The risk is too small.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : The vaccine is not without its own hazards also.
Ian Hoult - EPS : Hazards if you haven't got the illness.
JakeyBob : What other diseases could be used as weapons and how dangerous are they?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : The guidance has been published on four infections that are thought as possible: Anthrax, Smallpox, Plague and Botulism.The website www.PHLS.co.uk has more information.
DF : Isn't there as much danger to the people manufacturing this anthrax as anybody else?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : I would have thought so! Unless they had very sophisticated laboratories.
shelbeth : I have heard about Scotland being a place where it is difficult for Anthrax to affect anyone due to the climate. How accurate is this 'rumour' or is it just non-sense?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Not true, I'm afraid.
Dom : What about EBOLA?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Ebola is a severe illness, a viral hemorrhagic fever. We know that it is a natural infection that spreads from person to person and would be very difficult and dangerous to work with under these circumstances.
ODEE : Is it true only prolonged exposure to sunlight can destroy Anthrax spores
Prof Duerden - PHLS : No. Anthrax spores can be destroyed by heating, and by use of hypochlorite.
MolGen : how difficult would it be to produce resistant forms of bacillus anthracis?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : It would require bacteriological and molecular biology and genetic skills. Not to mention sophisticated laboratory work.
ALesley : to repeat my earlier question, if we are advised not to bother to buy gas masks etc now, what CAN the public do NOW to protect ourselves, and if masks/equipment were deemed necessary if a biochem attack was imminent would the local authorities supply them effectively????
Ian Hoult - EPS : To the first part, it's not felt that the public need take any steps at the moment to protect themselves. To the second part, Local Authorities wouldn't supply gas masks; but if a significant threat was identified, then the government would undertake this role.
Frodo : How long would smallpox, plague or botulism be 'at large' before we realised we'd been attacked ?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : Not very long. Smallpox has an incubation period of a few days. Botulism is by use of a toxin with effect within a few hours and plague has an incubation period of a few days.
Ian Hoult - EPS : For biological terrorism to be successful, it needs to be unexpected. At the moment all agencies are on their guard!
Doovoo : Surely it doesn't pay to genetically modify a SUPER virus, as you would only end up killing your own people to.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : That is one of the reasons why it is said that the major powers held back from implementing biological warfare.
paul neve : who is sending the bugs? - best guess?
Prof Duerden - PHLS : That's a matter for the security services. It wouldn't be appropriate to guess from a medical and public health perspective.
Ian Hoult - EPS : The American security agencies haven't been able to find any link between the anthrax scares and the terrorist activity on the 11th September.
Chat Ed : That's it! Thanks for that Brian and Ian, great stuff! Thanks for joining us tonight everyone.
Derek and Clive : cheers :D
Al : THanks
Ian Hoult - EPS : Enjoyed the opportunity to try to set the record straight.
Prof Duerden - PHLS : It's been an interesting half hour - hope it's been helpful!
Clairey : bye thank you for coming
Ian Hoult - EPS leaves the room
Prof Duerden - PHLS leaves the room
