Anthrax threat thought to be virtually nil for this area

Ken Johnston
Editor

As the world reels from the attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States, another attack has captured the attention of people; the threat of biological weapons, and in particular anthrax.

However, Ken Allan Infectious Disease Control Team Leader with the Northwestern Health Unit, said that the threat is very small and noted that people should not be afraid of getting infected with the bacteria in this district. Allan noted that there were only 17 cases of inhaled anthrax in all of the 20th century in North America. “It is extremely rare,” added Allan.

Despite his reassurances, the fear campaign seems to be taking hold with people across the free world and just last week there was a call to police about suspicious mail in Sioux Narrows, less than two hours from Rainy River. However the call resulted in a false alarm and to date there have been no confirmed cases of anthrax attacks in Canada.

“People have to ask themselves, would terrorists target Emo or Rainy River... it is extremely unlikely,” said Allan.

But just because it is unlikely, does not mean that officials have not taken precautions. Allan noted that about 3.5 years ago the NWHU began developing an emergency plan for the next Influenza Pandemic. At the same time it was decided that the threat of bio terrorism does exist and that it should be incorporated into the plan.

About every 30 years a strain of the flu comes along that is really bad and places a huge strain on the health care system and costs lives. In 1918 Allan said the flu killed between 20 and 30 million people. The last Pandemic was in the 1970s and Allan expects that another one could be in the offing very soon.

The plans for dealing with any outbreak of the flu also includes any outbreak in illness like anthrax. With that in mind Allan feels that if there is an attack on the area emergency officials are ready. Last year there was a great deal of discussion about anthrax in the district as cattle were discovered to have contracted it just east of Rainy River. At that time Allan noted that the spores for the bacteria are almost always present in the ground. However ideal weather conditions then had allowed the spores to be released and cattle were exposed to them. However the threat to humans was nominal and he noted Monday that there have been no reports of cattle or big game with anthrax this year.