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Orange County Public Health and Bioterrorism. Hildy Meyers, M.D., M.P.H. Medical Director Epidemiology & Assessment Public Health Services Orange County Health Care Agency December 10, 2001. Bioterrorism (BT) - Definition.
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Orange County Public Health and Bioterrorism Hildy Meyers, M.D., M.P.H. Medical Director Epidemiology & Assessment Public Health Services Orange County Health Care Agency December 10, 2001
Bioterrorism (BT) - Definition Biological terrorism is the use of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) or toxins from living organisms to produce death or disease in humans, animals, and plants.
Ideal BT Agent • Can be delivered as an aerosol • High disease/infection ratio • Maintains viability/infectivity in environment • Vaccine or prophylaxis to protect in manufacture and delivery
Environmental Constraints • Sunlight - UV light kills many bacteria • Wind - spreads biological agents • Temperature - heat inactivates many biological agents; most are resistant to freezing • Desiccation - may inactivate or inhibit growth
Agents of BT—Top Suspects • Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) • Smallpox (Variola major) • Plague (Yersinia pestis) • Tularemia(Francisella tularensis) • Botulism (Botulinum toxin) • Viral hemorrhagic fevers (Filoviruses and Arenaviruses )
Health Care Agency Planning • Improve communications • Requesting fax number and/or e-mail address from all O.C. physicians • Web postings • Grand rounds • Public Health Bulletin • Improve surveillance • Improve staff training
Bioterrorism Response Most important for physicians: • Preparation • Familiarity with agents of BT • Personal/office disaster preparedness • Hospital preparedness • Recognition—“the astute physician” • Reporting to Orange County Public Health— this will activate the response system • Also notify hospital infection control, laboratory, and administration
How to report • During regular business hours • Call Epidemiology • (714) 834-8180 • After hours, weekends and holidays For physicians and health care facilities ONLY • County Communications • (714) 628-7008 • Ask for Public Health Official on call
Orange County Health Care Agency Response • Case investigation and case finding • Establish diagnosis • Activate Orange County emergency plans • Notify: • California Dept of Health Services • Centers for Disease Control & Prevention • FBI and local law enforcement
Orange County Health Care Agency Response, cont. • Recommend treatment and infection control measures • Establish exposure date(s) and location(s) • Identify exposed persons • Follow-up cases and contacts • Provide mass prophylaxis (if indicated)
Identifying Suspicious Letters or Packages • Excessive postage • Handwritten or poorly typed addresses • Incorrect titles; title, but no name • Misspellings of common words • Oily stains, discolorations or odor • No return address or postmark does not match return address • Excessive weight • Lopsided or uneven envelope
Response to Suspicious Powder or Package • Call law enforcement • Law enforcement performs threat assessment and contacts FBI as needed • If no credible threat exists, incident is closed without further testing • If credible threat exists • FBI arranges for laboratory testing of specimen (and environment, if indicated) • Public Health is notified
What to report? • Legally mandated reporting • See list of reportable diseases, also available on our web site • Emergency regulations (11/5/01) have added BT agents not previously on list and made them immediately reportable • Includes: • Unusual diseases • Outbreaks
Epidemiological clues to a BT outbreak: examples • Illness associated with a ventilation system • A disease that is: • unusual for a given geographic area • occurs outside the normal transmission season • occurs in the absence of the normal vector for transmission
Epidemiological clues to a BT outbreak, cont. • Atypical host characteristics: • Young (< 50 years) • Immunologically intact • No underlying illness • No recent international travel or other exposure to potential source of infection
Worrisome Clinical Syndromes • Acute severe pneumonia or respiratory disease • Encephalitis syndrome • Unexplained rash with fever • Fever with mucous membrane bleeding • Unexplained death or paralysis • Septicemia/toxic shock
Anthrax - Microbiology • Bacillus anthracis - gram +, spore-forming, bacillus • Spores may remain infectious in environment for as long as 50 years • Endemic infection in animals • Spores enter host, germinate in a macrophage and are transported to regional lymph nodes where local toxins cause edema and death of tissue • Humans develop infection naturally from handling contaminated fluids or hides (“Woolsorters Disease”) or eating contaminated raw or undercooked meat
Anthrax: Clinical Progression of Inhalational Disease Respiratory Distress Stridor, Cyanosis Chest/Neck Edema Exposure DAYS Fever Fatigue Myalgia Malaise Meningitis (50%) Respiratory Failure Shock, Death
Anthrax:Inhalational, N=10 • Incubation (known for 6 cases) • Range: 4-6 days • Median: 4 days • Age • Range: 43-73 • Median: 56 years • 7 of 10: male
Anthrax:Inhalational, N=10 Symptom Number Fever, chills 10 (Sweats, often drenching 7) Fatigue, malaise, lethargy 10 Cough (minimal or nonproductive) 9 Nausea or vomiting 9 Dyspnea 8 Chest discomfort or pleuritic pain 7
Anthrax:Inhalational, N=10 Symptom Number Myalgias 6 Headache 5 Confusion 4 Abdominal pain 3 Sore throat 2 Rhinorrhea 1
Anthrax:Inhalational, N=10 • WBC: Median 9.8 (7.5 – 13.3) • Differential - neutrophilia (>70%) in 7 of 10 • Elevated transaminases (9 of 10) • Hypoxemia 6 of 10 • CXR: abnormal in all • 2—initial reading WNL • 8—pleural effusions • Often large, hemorrhagic, reaccumulated • 7—mediastinal widening • 7—infiltrates (some multilobar) • CT (N=8): Mediastinal changes present in all
Anthrax:Inhalational, N=10 • Confirmation of Bacillus anthracis • 7—positive blood cultures • Blood cultures positive in all who had not received antimicrobials • Negative cultures • Bronchial or pleural biopsy—specific immunohistochemical staining • PCR • 4x rise in IgG to protective antigen (with confirmatory inhibition test)
Initial chest X-ray showing prominent superior mediastinum and possible small left pleural effusion (Case 1, EID 11/8/01)
Chest X-ray showing diffuse consolidation consistent with pneumonia throughout the left lung. There is no evidence of mediastinal widening (Case 2, EID 11/8/01)
Chest X-ray showing mediastinal widening and a small left pleural effusion (Case 7, EID 11/8/01).
Anthrax: Patient requests for testing • There are no screening tests for anthrax • Nasal swabs are • A research tool • ONLY used as part of an epidemiological investigation of KNOWN anthrax exposure • Are NOT used to determine who should be treated or prophylaxed • Should only be done at the request of Public Health
Anthrax: Patient requests for testing, cont. • Asymptomatic patient WITHOUT known exposure: • Reassurance • No lab tests • Asymptomatic patient WITH suspected (as determined by law enforcement/FBI) or known exposure: • Consult with Public Health for recommendations
Anthrax: Patient requests for testing, cont. • Patient with non-specific symptoms • Reports having had an exposure to unknown substance—not evaluated by law enforcement • Does not fit any known risk profile (occupation, previously identified exposures) • Reassurance about rarity of infection and frequency of viral URIs • Evaluate for symptoms • If afebrile, instruct patient to monitor for fever and other symptoms
Anthrax: Cutaneous • Incubation 1-12 days • Skin lesion: Macule or papule vesicles ulcer depressed black eschar • Initially often have pruritis • Usually painless • Vesicles may surround ulcer • Edema usually develops, may be severe • May have fever, malaise, headache, regional lymphangitis, painful lymphadenopathy
Anthrax: Cutaneous, cont. • Dx: • Vesicular fluid/exudate/inflammed area of eschar • Gram stain (may be falsely negative) • Culture • Biopsy— • Immunohistochemical staining, PCR, silver stain • Consider blood culture
Cutaneous lesion on neck Cutaneous lesion on face Cutaneous lesion: day 11
Cutaneous Anthrax: D/dx • Ecthyma • Folliculitis • Brown recluse spider bite • Ecthyma gangrenosum • Orf • Pyoderma gangrenosum • Sweet’s syndrome (http://www.acponline.org American College of Physicians)
Cutaneous Anthrax: Clues to the diagnosis • Usually solitary lesion • Initial pruritis • Painless • Most often on upper extremities • Evolution to eschar formation • Non-pitting edema • Regional adenopathy • May be associated with constitutional sx
Anthrax Treatment • Inhalational • Doxycyline or ciprofloxacin, IV • Plus: 1 or 2 other drugs • Rifampin, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, vancomycin, clindamycin • Not cephalosporins or trimethopirm-sulfamethoxazole
Anthrax Epi InvestigationCDC, as of December 5 • 22 cases • 11 inhalational—5 deaths • 11 cutaneous (7 confirmed, 4 suspected) • All but 2 cases: postal employees or media-related • NJ and Washington DC mail sorting facilities • Widespread environmental contamination • ~85 million pieces of mail processed after implicated letters passed through until shutdown • Mail from these facilities distributed to metropolitan areas with 10.5 million people
Anthrax Epi InvestigationCDC, as of December 5, cont. • Risk for additional inhalational cases due to exposure to cross-contamination is very low • Persons remaining concerned about their risk may want to • Not open suspicious mail • Keep mail away from face when opening • Don’t sniff mail or contents • Wash hands after handling mail • However, efficacy of these measures unknown
Smallpox • Last naturally acquired case 1977, Somalia • Laboratory-acquired case in 1978 • Declared eradicated 1980 • Vaccination program dismantled • U.S. recommendations for routine vaccination rescinded for • children in 1971 • health care workers rescinded in 1976 • military in 1990 • Vaccination no longer required for international travelers as of Jan. 1982 Last smallpox case (variola minor)
Smallpox - Epidemiology • Transmission: person-to-person primarily via direct respiratory droplet (face-to-face) • Most communicable from onset of rash (after onset of prodrome) through first 7 days of rash • Oral mucosa lesions ulcerate and release large amounts of virus into saliva • Incubation averages 12 days (range 7-17) • Attack rate ~60% (range 38-88%)
Smallpox: Clinical Types • Variola major: classic smallpox (30% mortality) • Variola minor: milder disease (1% mortality) • Flat-type (2%-5%): severe toxicity, flat, soft lesions (95% mortality) • Hemorrahagic (<3%): extensive petechiae
Clinical--Classic Smallpox • Prodrome (2-3 days): Acute onset with high fever, malaise, and prostration with severe headache and backache; +/- erythematous rash • Lesions appear over 1-2 day period • Spread of rash to lower extremities, then centrally; lesions more abundant on face and extremities; may be present on palms and soles
SmallpoxChickenpox Incubation (days) 7-1714-21 Prodrome (days) 2-4minimal/none Distribution more prominentmore prominent on face and on trunk extremities Progression synchronousasynchronous Scab formation* 10-14 4-7 Scab separation* 14-28<14 Smallpox vs. Chickenpox * Number of days after rash onset