Bioterrorism was far from the minds of most students caught up in Spring Weekend festivities Friday. Yet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pizzitola Center, the University, along with city and state health and law enforcement agencies took part in a public health drill concerning this very subject - the occurrence of a bioterrorist attack.
The scenario was the release of an airborne pathogen known as Coxiella burnetti in the Rockefeller library causing the illness Q fever, according to Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service.
Friday's drill involved the creation of a clinic at the Pizzitola Center capable of diagnosing all individuals who had been in the Rock between March 1 and April 20.
The mock clinic was open to the public, and passersby were asked to drop in and play the role of patients.
Patients were given cards that included their hypothetical vital signs and symptoms. Those showing no symptoms were put on the antibiotic Doxycycline, while those with symptoms were shown to a doctor.
The purpose of Friday's simulation was to test the University's ability to handle a bioterrorist attack, said Fox Wetle, professor of medical science and liaison officer for the event.
"What we're trying to do is see how well we can get organized," Nickel said.
The bioterrorism simulation was the first of its kind at Brown, Wetle said. Brown Emergency Medical Services simulated the fallout from an accidental liquid natural gas explosion April 11.
In Friday's hypothetical scenario, "students started showing up with respiratory problems and middle-grade fevers of 104 to 105 degrees," said Chris Harwood, a Brown biosafety officer and the event's incident commander.
When librarians from the Rock also started reporting to their physicians, the University brought in the Rhode Island state epidemiologist, who determined that a pathogen had been released in the Rock, Harwood added.
Q fever is an acute illness with a mortality rate of less than 1 percent, according to the simulation's training guide for triage nurses. High fever, severe headache and respiratory problems are common symptoms. The illness develops into chronic disease among less than 5 percent of the population.
The hypothetical outbreak was isolated to the University campus ,but health officials are also prepared for larger areas of contamination. "If this was a major public health emergency, we would have many of these clinics," Harwood said.
In the event of a real outbreak, the entire campus would be mobilized through mass e-mails, flyers, a Web site and the help of The Herald, Wetle said. "The rule in public health is to be multi-dimensional," she added.
However, accounting for all possible cases of illness would not be an easy task. "The question is how many people have been in the Rock, breathed the air in the Rock, over the past three weeks," Nickel said, adding that this would include basically the entire campus.
A number of Brown students participated in Friday's exercise.
Nicholas Monu '06 is a PLME student who volunteered to help out. "My job is to greet people, write down their number, name, time they came in and check to make sure they're not allergic to the (antibiotic)," he said.
Students involved with Brown EMS also participated. "Under my command, I have one group of EMTs that are doing triage and one that are doing transport," said EMS manager Rick Lapierre.
Friday's simulation appeared to be a success. "I think it's run very well. We handled the volume (of patients) very well," Harwood said.
One drawback was that due to the event's concurrence with Spring Weekend, turnout of volunteer patients was not as large as hoped, he said.
Nevertheless, the real world does not allow for control over an outbreak's timing. "In a real situation, it's never going to be the ideal date," Harwood said.
