Researchers Seek New Ways To Protect Chem-Bio Victims.

• Author: Willingham, Stephen

Defense Department researchers are working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of military personnel and civilians casualties of chemical or biological attacks, but they are hindered by a lack of funding, officials told a recent industry briefing.

The briefing--sponsored by the U.S. Army Soldier and Chemical Command (SBCCOM) and the National Defense Industrial Association--took place at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md.

The 2001 budget provides about $150 million to improve diagnosis and treatment of chemical or biological attack victims, according to Carol Linden, director for chemical-biological defense at the Army Medical Research and Material Command (AMRMC) at Fort Detrick, Md.

"One thing we want to do is simplify the diagnostic process by developing a one diagnostic capability set," Linden said.

After such an attack, medical teams have limited amounts of time to treat victims, officials said. Chemical agents, they noted, act almost immediately, while biological devices begin claiming casualties within a few days after the attack. Thus, Linden said, it is imperative for health professionals to move quickly.

"Our goal is to reduce casualties," she said. "Casualties resulting from such an attack would create a huge logistics tail, when you consider the great number of people who could be affected."

The medical defense programs at Fort Detrick serve all of the armed services, conducting research on diagnosis, vaccines and follow-up therapies, Linden said. "Our focus is to provide medical solutions for the warfighter," she said.

A major aim of chemical-biological research is the eventual development of a group of multi-agent vaccines, Linden said. This could lead to the "reduction, even elimination of casualties that would otherwise follow a chemical-biological attack," she said.

That, in turn, might "deter employment and proliferation of these kinds of weapons" altogether, Linden reasoned.

A long working relationship between AMRMC and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--focusing on unconventional technologies, which include quicker identification methods for chemical-biological substances--is proving successful, said Linden. "This relationship has now grown from scientific exchanges to the programatic level," she reported.

A vaccine has been developed against anthrax, which Pentagon officials consider "the number one biological threat." Anthrax is an airborne virus that attacks the respiratory system. Infection "is almost invariably fatal, if not treated quickly," said a Pentagon official. Even with prompt treatment, the likelihood of death is 80 percent.

According to a 1993 Congressional Office of Technology Assessment study, an aerosolized release of 100 kilograms of anthrax spores upwind of Washington, D.C., could cause between 130,000 and 3 million deaths.

Believing that members of the armed services face the most immediate danger of attack, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen has ordered that all military personnel, including the Coast Guard, National Guard and reserves be vaccinated against anthrax. In 1998 and 1999, more than 395,000 members of the armed services--including the highest-ranking officials in the Pentagon--received the shots.

Some service personnel, however, have refused the vaccinations, citing religious beliefs or fears of side effects. But such side effects are rare, Linden said. You don't see them "until you vaccinate large numbers of people," she explained.

Nevertheless, she conceded that treatment and therapy programs for chemical and biological attacks are complex. She cited mustard gas, used in World War I. "We've been working on this one for the last 100 years," she said.

Gulf War Issues

"More recently, we are still trying to sort out and deal with the issues that arose during the Gulf War."

After the war, veterans reported symptoms of what is known as the Gulf War illness--that some suggested might have been linked to vaccines administered during the conflict.

About 150,000 U.S. military personnel who served in the theater received anthrax vaccinations, according to Defense Department figures. As many as 8,000 doses of botulism vaccine were also administered. Several studies, however, have failed to establish any evidence to connect the vaccinations with Gulf War illness.

At present, research teams at Fort Detrick--which is located near Frederick, Md.--are working to develop vaccines against botulinum and plague...