Healthcare

If the federal government is ill-prepared and local police and fire units unlikely to take proper actions, one might hope that at least healthcare providers could react quickly to head off the effects of a biological or chemical weapon attack!

There are several problems here as well. The first is that by the time the medical establishment realizes it is dealing with a plague, large numbers of people would be contaminated. This is because most people don’t seek out medical help until well after they have become ill, long after they may have exposed those around them to an illness. With the current trend of employers expecting workers to come to their jobs even if they are mildly ill, and with the expense of medical treatment becoming more and more expensive all the time, this situation is likely only to worsen. Thus, by the time the medical establishment is aware of a problem, it is likely to be overwhelmingly large. Too large to deal with.

Additionally, most medical personnel in the US have little or no training in dealing with victims of biological weapons. In fact, they might not even recognize that people coming into emergency rooms have been infected with a highly contagious, but seldom seen, disease that has been employed as a weapon. Initially at least, most doctors and emergency personnel will misdiagnose many of the pathogens most likely to be employed as terrorist weapons. And in some cases, this would spell the probable death of the victim, since those who survive do so only when antibiotics are given at the first sign of infection.

Where Does That Leave Us?

When it comes to dealing with chemical and biological weapons attacks against the US, our citizens are caught over the proverbial barrel -- with their pants down. Government leaders have done too little and squandered our tax dollars without giving us any real protection; the government agencies have spent money recklessly and are more interested in winning in rivalries than actually protecting the public; our healthcare workers are sadly ignorant of how to even recognize the victims of biological or chemical attacks, let alone how to treat such patients.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the government and medical establishment may be up to speed in the near future. Certainly more money is going toward curing the problem (though, as the past has proven, money spent by the government doesn’t necessarily translate into results). For the fiscal Year 2001 (FY01), the US federal anti-terrorism budget grew to 1.555 billion dollars -- about twice what was allocated in FY98.

In the meantime, the protection offered by the government is more in the form of cleaning up after an attack rather than preventing one. Even considering the antibiotics, decontaminants, or other supplies that are available, it isn’t hard to believe that they could easily be too little too late.

But you can take up that slack. As you read and study this manual, you’re going to discover that you can take matters into your own hands and do what the government will not do. You can take steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. You can make sure that you will not become a victim of terrorists, or become a dependent pawn among government agencies that are jockeying for power when they should be protecting you.

It is time to learn how to do this, and take over the responsibility for your own safety -- because, as it should be painfully obvious by now, no one else is going to do this for you.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of actually protecting yourself, we’ll end this Introduction with a slightly updated version of the Prologue from the 1996 edition. Then we’ll take another slight detour into the history of chemical and biological weapons. These are both important because the scenario that follows will give you a sequence of possible, and even likely, events that could unfold during a prolonged terrorist attack or actions by rogue nations against US citizens.

And the knowledge in the next chapter will give you a lot of insight into what the dangers are -- as well as the limitations of these weapons. This information can then help you prepare for the dangers in a realistic manner. So before we get into the how-to of protecting yourself, we need to take a look at the history of these weapons.

Now let’s see how events might unfold in a very terrifying way over the next few months or years:

In the first edition of this book, we included a short scenario of how a biological or chemical attack might unfold. Unfortunately, since then we have had actual attacks (albeit on a very minor scale as this goes to press), so in many ways the need to present this material is less essential. For this reason it has the unusual distinction of going from the very front of the first edition of Breath No Evil to the very end of the manual with this second edition.

Nevertheless, we are including it for the simple reason that it is important to know what might happen so you can watch and be aware of danger signs and how things may escalate into even more dangerous situations. And while there is no guarantee that any future events will unfold as described here, it is a fairly safe bet they could and very well may take a track similar to that outlined below.

That said; we have also updated these somewhat to reflect the current conditions as this goes to press.

Warning Signs

Before we get to our likely scenario, it’s also important to see what might be the warning signs leading up to an attack. Recognizing these can give you an essential head start in your preparations, and thereby improve the chances for you and your loved ones even more than will be the case if you only prepare and act the moment actual danger presents itself. Additionally, knowing that there could be danger afoot will help you avoid entering high-risk areas that might be targets, thereby avoiding possible exposure. Keeping your eyes and ears open for these signs could save your life. The time when citizens could go about their everyday life depending on the government to protect them each step of the way is over.

The first key point to remember is that governments often have warnings that an attack may be coming. Because of the fear of disrupting work or creating a panic, or of revealing the source of their information, government officials generally downplay such information and seldom give precise information about exactly what the dangers are. Additionally, while news organizations like to capture the public’s attention (and perhaps even use fear tactics to raise viewership), they also tend to downplay the dangers to keep people riding airplanes, watching mindless entertainment, and buying products. In short, warnings may be underplayed or vague at best.

Yet such warnings might very well be key to your avoiding being directly exposed to a chemical or bioterrorism attack.

So how do you get this information, if the government is going to downplay it and news organizations ignore it?

One way is to cut out the middlemen and go as close to the source of the information as you can. Many of the US Government’s warnings can be accessed via the Internet. For example, going to the US State Department’s travel advisory Web page (at http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html) will give you a list of warnings for travelers. Even if you don’t travel, these warnings can also be a tip-off as to what tensions may be going on behind the scenes and whether or not a terrorist attack might be likely.

If, for example, you went to this Web page and found a warning for travelers to avoid trips to Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran, you might suspect that things are chilling between the US and these nations. Since these nations are also suspected of supporting terrorists, it isn’t too far fetched to suspect that during such a crisis, especially if it results in the US intimidating them or even attacking, they might retaliate with terrorist actions.

Likewise, going to the US Centers for Disease Control site (at http://www.cdc.gov/) can also give hints of possible biological attacks. If you visit there and see the same disease breaking out in many large cities at once, you should suspect terrorist activity. Likewise, if there is a warning for health officials to be aware of a possible outbreak of an unusual disease, then you can also be pretty sure that the government is suspecting the possible use of such a disease as a weapon (even if it is not, many of the same preparations outlined in this manual for defense against a biological weapon will also protect you against a serious outbreak of a contagious disease, with the end results being very similar -- and with you perhaps avoiding illness regardless of whether it is a natural outbreak or a terrorist attack).

Another warning sign to watch for is the outbreak of an unusual disease in several locations. For example, the outbreak of anthrax in Florida in 2001 was easy to dismiss as a freak happening (and in fact was by both the government and press). When outbreaks in Washington and New York followed it, it was soon evident that these were, in fact, terrorist attacks. While it is often impossible to quickly -- if at all -- pinpoint who is behind the attacks, the fact that an attack may be occurring is an important piece of information that can help you take precautions to avoid becoming a victim of it.

Don’t be misled by politicians or the press. Remember that if the government cannot prove such attacks are such, they will opt to explain the events away as natural occurrences. (For this reason the outbreaks in Hawaii of Denge fever in October 2001, the first in 50 years, seemed suspicious given the fact that they coincided with the anthrax attacks elsewhere in the US. and, likewise, more than a few experts have suspected that the West Nile Virus outbreaks in various parts of the US might have been a biological attack as well.)

Learning to read between the lines, in government warnings and media news reports, is essential if you’re to stay ahead of the curve in regard to potential threats to you and your loved ones.

Remember that the government and media are trying not to panic the public. If there’s a push to inoculate key politicians, military personnel, medical staffs, and so forth, you should suspect that there is fear of an attack with the bacteria or virus being inoculated against. If there is any sort of a program to inoculate key workers in the civilian sector, you may wish to get in line and take advantage of the offer.

A Prologue of Disaster

Unlike the rest of this book, the following "news reports" are fiction. However, they’ve been carefully plotted and thought out, following the course of events that might easily unfold from the aftermath of Sept 11, 2001. Think over these possibilities and also consider how you might respond to each to increase the likelihood that you and your loved ones would prevail. Thinking ahead of time can be essential in staying in the best possible position for survival as well as in protecting your personal and business assets.

Honolulu Sees Massive Dengue Fever Outbreak

Honolulu, April 8 (APA) In less than a year, Hawaii has seen its second outbreak of dengue fever. In addition to the East Maui’s 1062 confirmed cases, officials report that statewide the cases now number at over 4,400 with many more likely to surface now that the disease is being reported in Honolulu, where residents worry the disease could spread quickly if actions aren’t taken immediately by state health officials.

Health experts say these outbreaks of dengue are inevitable given the state’s large Polynesian contingent, noting that the disease is endemic in Tahiti and American Samoa. However, unnamed sources at the US Centers for Disease Control, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it is possible that the outbreaks are not natural occurrences but rather another terrorist attack involving biological weapons.

Lahaina physician, Raymond Fisher, disputes this contention noting that he had seen sporadic cases of suspected dengue fever in the past, though not in the numbers currently seen. "While the large numbers of citizens is a concern and somewhat unusual," he told reporters, "it is unconscionable to suggest it is anything other than a natural outbreak." The doctor did admit, however, that how the disease has established itself in the community remains a mystery.

State health officials did not return calls when asked about the possibility that the current outbreaks might be incidents of bioterrorism.

Order off line