Health care, emergency workers hold bioterrorism conference

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri health care and emergency workers who have years of experience dealing with floods, earthquakes and tornados are comparing notes about the newer threat of bioterrorism.

"People will say terrorism isn't going to happen here," Linda Landesman, assistant vice president of the New York Health and Hospitals Corp., told the opening session of a two-day Missouri "bioterrorism summit."

With the Sept. 11 attacks, "the lesson that we learned is that no part of the country is not vulnerable," Landesman said Tuesday.

More than 400 people are attending the meeting, from backgrounds including emergency medicine, local public health agencies, hospitals and law enforcement, said Nanci Gonder, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Gonder defined bioterrorism as acts using biological agents, such as anthrax, against humans. Her department houses Missouri's Center for Emergency Response and Terrorism, which can be activated as a 24-hour command and control center to deal with large-scale emergencies.

Gov. Bob Holden said the center will be "responsible for coordinating regional and state planning for public health emergencies and natural disasters, including biological, chemical, and nuclear terrorism."