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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's chief medical officer sought on Monday to calm fears about a possible anthrax attack, saying the nation was well prepared for any outbreak.
Professor Liam Donaldson said there were no indications that Britain would become a target like its partner in the military strikes against Afghanistan, the United States, where residents of three states have been exposed to anthrax this month.
"We have put in place plans to secure supplies and stores of the appropriate antibiotics–but I stress we have no specific threat," Donaldson said.
The plans were drawn up a full 18 months before the September 11 hijack attacks and subsequent anthrax outbreaks in the United States, he told BBC radio.
Hundreds of people have been tested for the disease in the United States. Top US officials have blamed bio-terrorists for sending the bacteria in the mail.
Information had been circulated to British public health officials and doctors about how to detect and treat any outbreak. If Britons were exposed, it would most likely only hit a confined area, Donaldson said.
"It would be the result of some sort of exposure," he said. "We've seen from the cases in the States that they are tied to particular incidents, the opening of suspect parcels and so on.
"Anthrax is not a disease that spreads from person to person," he added.
Donaldson said the government would be as open as possible about the realities of a biological attack but had to be careful not to aid any enemy.
"Terrorism is now a far more sophisticated business than it has been in the past and we don't want to give any information away that might help the terrorists," he said.
Donaldson criticised newspapers for running what he called "lurid headlines" and details about drugs and treatments, saying they divulged too much information.
Of those exposed to anthrax in the United States, two have gone on to contract the disease: one in Florida, the other in New York. The Florida man died 10 days ago.
Three people who worked in the US buildings where anthrax was discovered are now in Britain undergoing tests.
White powder dropped by a man in Canterbury Cathedral, southern England, at the weekend, prompting a security scare and evacuation, turned out to be harmless, police said on Monday.
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