foodborne terrorism tabletop exercise october 21, 2005
TRANSCRIPT
Foodborne Terrorism Foodborne Terrorism Tabletop ExerciseTabletop Exercise
October 21, 2005
Schedule
8:00 – 8:30 Mingling over Breakfast 8:30 – 9:00 Introduction 9:00 – 11:15 Exercise, Phase 1 11:15 – 12:30 Lunch 12:30 – 1:15 Guest
Presentation 1:15 – 2:15 Exercise, Phase 2 2:15 – 3:00 Media Segment 3:00 – 4:00 Debriefing
Breaks will occur both in the morning and afternoon
at a time to be decided by the moderator.
Acknowledgements
Sponsored by the TN Food Safety Taskforce Funding from The University of South Carolina
Center for Public Health Preparedness Developed by TN Department of Health in
conjunction with TN Dept. of Agriculture, Metro Public Health Department of Nashville/Davidson Co., and Center for Public Health Preparedness, University of South Carolina
Special Thank You to the Planning Committee
Tim JonesRyan MasonKaren Patton
Brady John Sanford
Jerry Rowland Jane RichterErik Svendsen John Dunn
Schedule
8:00 – 8:30 Mingling over Breakfast
8:30 – 9:00 Introduction 9:00 – 11:15 Exercise, Phase 1 11:15 – 12:30 Lunch 12:30 – 1:15 Guest Presentation 1:15 – 2:15 Exercise, Phase 2 2:15 – 3:00 Media Segment 3:00 – 4:00 Debriefing
Breaks will occur both in the morning and afternoon at a time to be decided by the moderator.
Purpose
This tabletop exercise will enable participants to demonstrate and evaluate the response capabilities, communication, resources, data, coordination, and organizational elements involved in a food security emergency response.
Purpose
Participants will have an opportunity to assess their own preparedness for responding to such a scenario and identify individual needs for information and/or training.
Tabletop Exercise? Informal group discussion stimulated
by a scripted disaster scenarioLow stress, designed to promote free
and open exchange of ideas Identify issues (e.g., data,
coordination, communication, resources, and policy)
Familiarize players with roles, functions, plans, and procedures
Objectives of the Exercise Identify the policy issues that would
arise during a food-related terrorism event
Identify and understand measures that can be performed at the local level
Recognize the roles of various public officials
Illustrate the need for intense teamwork and communication
Objectives of the Exercise Identify gaps in local preparedness
plans, policies and/or proceduresBuild relationships with participants
from other key agencies Identify additional training needs in
your organization/agency
House Rules This is an exercise only. Please preface and end all
phone calls pertaining to this exercise which extend outside of this facility with the statement “this is an exercise”.
What happens in this room stays in this room with the exception of the lessons we learn and the relationships we develop.
Please be sensitive to the noise level. Above all, courtesy and professionalism prevail. Name tags are required at all times. There will be no actual news media involved in this
exercise.
Various Roles
Moderator – Dr. Allen CraigParticipants – You Facilitators – Planning Committee
MembersEvaluator – Dr. Erik Svendsen
Participants’ Roles
Play your own role in your agency (if possible)
Identify gaps and strengths of response plans
Take note of perceived deficiencies to be discussed during The Debriefing
Instructions to Remember
Respond as a group as the information emerges
Maintain your agency’s role throughout the exercise
Not all will participate equally Lack of active participants does not mean
lack of learning
Components of Exercise
Phase 1The SettingThe Scenario UnfoldsVarious Agency Roles/Responses
Components of Exercise
Phase 2The Contamination EventGuest PresentationMedia SegmentDebriefing
THE SETTINGTHE SETTING
(Metropolitan Davidson County)
The Setting
Nashville / Davidson County, Tennessee
596,000 residents
946,000 people who commute to Nashville from neighboring counties
The Setting
Approximately 30 medical centers, including 10 hospitals and specialty centers located throughout the county
Numerous nursing homes and day care centers
The Setting
Public water supplyPublic Health Department of
Nashville/Davidson Co. is a local health department with approximately 500 employees/ State Health Dept.
The Setting
Tourism and agriculture are major industries
Day 1 – Day 1 – Friday AfternoonFriday Afternoon
Isn’t it always?
Phone Call
Mary, school nurse from Dan Mills Elementary School (Metro-Davidson Co.) calls the Metro Health Department concerned that 4 children, (ages 6-9), have reported to her clinic, ill, with vomiting and diarrhea, 1 of which is bloody diarrhea.
Parents have been called, and are on their way to pick up their children.
Same Day
Health Department advises obtaining stool samples, which were collected and submitted to Vanderbilt ER (4 Total).
Results are pending.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Question ?
Which agencies do you think need to concern themselves with this information?
Question ?
What would be their response?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Day 4—Monday 11:00 am
School nurses from Bellevue Middle and Crieve Hall Elementary report to Metro Health Dept. that 7 and 4 children, respectively, are exhibiting symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea with 3 children also experiencing bloody diarrhea.
Same Day
The ages of the children ranged from 6-13. Several of the sick children apparently
have not been in contact with any of the other children who exhibited similar symptoms.
No Link has been established between the groups of ill children.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Question ?
Which agencies need to concern themselves with this information?
Question ?
What would be their response?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Day 6—Wednesday 10:00 am
Private practice physicians are reporting an unusual number of sick children (symptoms of nausea and vomiting) to the Metro Health Department.
Concerned parents, hearing rumors of food poisoning are also calling schools and the Department of Education in an attempt to get more information.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Question ?
Which agencies should be involved?
Question ?
What needs to be done (and by whom) ?
Communication
Who needs to be communicating with whom (and why) ?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Metro Health Dept. started interviews at 3 schools.
Approximately 20% of students had some gastrointestinal symptoms.
Ongoing Epidemiological Investigation Reveals…
No adult family members are presenting these symptoms.
Most of the sick children ate at school cafeterias, but some brought lunch and only bought milk or juice at the cafeteria.
Metro environmental health specialists (health inspectors) report cafeteria inspection scores are 94 and 98 for Bellevue Middle and Crieve Hall Elementary Schools (no critical or serious violations were observed).
One inspector even remarked that Bellevue Middle Cafeteria was the cleanest one he had ever seen.
Approximately 40% of hospitalized children return to the hospital with similar symptoms after being discharged.
None of these children have returned to school.
48 Students have been seen in area ER’s.
2% of people who reported symptoms are teachers.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Refer to Handout # 1: Event Recap.
Question ?
Who is in charge of the situation?
Question ?
What would your agency’s role be now?
Question ?
With whom would your agency be communicating?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Day 6—Wednesday 2:30 PM(Same Day)
All stool cultures from ill people are negative.
TN State Dept. of Education reports that absenteeism is up 18% in eleven counties in Middle TN.
Day 7—Thursday, throughout day
Epi-X (surveillance tracking software) reveals to state epidemiologists that Huntsville, AL; Rome, GA, Hopkinsville and Louisville, KY and their surrounding areas are all reporting similar activity.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Handout # 2
Question ?
Would your agency be impacted, if so, how?
Question ?
What are your initial actions?
Question ?
Within your own agency, with whom would you communicate first? Why? Others and why?
Question ?
Due to the negative stool culture results and interstate involvement, which aspects of the investigation would change?
Question ?
Who is in charge of the situation? Why?
Question ?
What is your agency’s involvement at this point?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Day 8—Friday 9:00 AM
Media picks up story about possible strain of stomach flu raging through the community and nearby areas of AL, KY, and GA.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Question
Would your agency be talking to the media about this issue?
Question
Who would be responding?
Question
Outside your agency, with whom would you communicate first? Why? Others and why?
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Day 11—MondayEpi. Investigation Reveals…
Another cluster of cases with similar symptoms was uncovered through an investigation of local hospital records. Several employees of Sunrise Dairy have been out of work sick for nearly 2 weeks, many have been hospitalized, and some keep returning to the hospital.
Same Day
Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital notifies the Metro Nashville Health Department that two of the sick children from Crieve Hall Elementary School have died.
Epidemiological Investigation Reveals…
Metro Health Dept. implicates milk as being associated with the ‘unknown’ sickness (odds ratio of 8.3).
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Handout # 3
Question ?
What are your agency’s urgent priorities now?
Question ?
Within your agency, with whom would you communicate first? Why? Others and why?
Question ?
With whom would you be communicating outside your agency? Why?
Question ?
Which aspects of the investigation/situation have changed?
Question ?
Who is in charge of the situation? Why?
Question ?
What are your resources?
THE THE CONTAMINATION CONTAMINATION
EVENTEVENT
Day 18 –Monday 4:00 pm
Letter received at WSMV, a local news station, from a terrorist claiming responsibility for contamination of milk with a radioactive material.
Effects on your agency?
Media onslaught !Personal concerns and fears !Community reaction ! Magnitude of public inquiry !Financial implications !
Radiation Exposure
CAUTION
Crash Course
Radioactive Sources
• 157,000 licensed users in U.S.
• 2,000,000 devices containing radioactive sources
• Approximately 400 sources lost or stolen in U.S. every year
Sources used in mobile cesium Sources used in mobile cesium irradiators in the former Soviet irradiators in the former Soviet
UnionUnion
Recovered Recovered transport transport containercontainer
Sources Around the Sources Around the WorldWorld
Goiânia Morbidity
• 249 exposed; 54 hospitalized
• Eight with radiation sickness
• Four people died
• 112,000 people monitored (>10% of total population)
What Is Radiation?
Nuclear
Radio/TV
Sun
Light
Heat
Microwave
Radiation is NOT contagious!
Electromagnetic SpectrumEnergyEnergy
ElectricalElectricalPowerPower
Radio/Radio/TVTV
MicrowaMicrowaveve
LightLight
NON-IONIZING NON-IONIZING RADIATIONRADIATION
X-X-rayray
GamGammama
IONIZING IONIZING RADIATIONRADIATION
FrequencyFrequency
UVUV
Ionizing Radiation
• Ionizing radiation is radiation capable of imparting its energy to the body and causing chemical changes
• Ionizing radiation is emitted by
- Radioactive material
- Some devices such as x-ray machines
Types of Ionizing Radiation
Alpha ParticlesStopped by a sheet of paper
Beta ParticlesStopped by a layer of clothingor less than an inch of a substance (e.g. plastic)
Gamma RaysStopped by inches to feet of concreteor less than an inch of lead
RadiationSource
Radiation Doses and Limits
Flight from Los Angeles to London 5 mrem
Annual public dose limit 100 mrem
Annual natural background 300 mrem
Fetal dose limit 500 mrem
Barium enema 870 mrem
Annual radiation worker dose limit 5,000 mrem
Heart catheterization (skin dose) 45,000 mrem
Life saving actions guidance (NCRP-116) 50,000 mrem
Mild acute radiation syndrome 200,000 mrem
LD50/60 for humans (bone marrow dose) 350,000 mrem
Radiation therapy (localized & fractionated) 6,000,000 mrem
Physical Radionuclide Half-Life Activity Use
Cesium-137 30 yrs 1.5x106 Ci Food Irradiator
Cobalt-60 5 yrs 15,000 Ci Cancer Therapy
Plutonium-239 24,000 yrs 600 Ci Nuclear Weapon
Iridium-192 74 days 100 Ci Industrial Radiography
Hydrogen-3 12 yrs 12 Ci Exit Signs
Strontium-90 29 yrs 0.1 Ci Eye Therapy Device
Iodine-131 8 days 0.015 Ci Nuclear Medicine Therapy
Technetium-99m 6 hrs 0.025 Ci Diagnostic Imaging
Americium-241 432 yrs 0.000005 Ci Smoke Detectors
Radon-222 4 days 1 pCi/l Environmental Level
Examples of Radioactive Materials
Causes of Radiation Exposure/Contamination
• Accidents
– Nuclear reactor
– Medical radiation therapy
– Industrial irradiator
– Lost/stolen radioactive sources
– Transportation
• Terrorist Event
– Radiological dispersal device (dirty bomb)
– Attack on or sabotage of a nuclear facility
– Low yield nuclear weapon
Time:
Distance:
Shielding:
IncreaseIncrease distance distance between you and the between you and the sourcesource
DecreaseDecrease time spent time spent near the radioactive near the radioactive sourcesource
Increase Increase the the physical shielding physical shielding between you and between you and the sourcethe source
Reducing Radiation Exposure
Protective Action Guides
• Sheltering
• Evacuation
• Relocation
• Decontamination
• Worker PPE
Common Shelters
Structure Dose Reduction Factors
Wood Frame (1st floor) 10%
Wood Frame (Basement) 40%
Masonry 40%
Large building 80%
Protective Actions
• If you are inside, shelter in place– Stay indoors– Turn off ventilation systems– Close and lock windows and doors
• If you are outside,– Cover your nose and mouth with a
cloth– Leave the area and go inside
Protective Actions
• If you think you may be contaminated,
– Remove outer layer of clothing and seal it in a plastic bag
– Shower or wash your hands and face
• Listen for further instructions
• Seek medical attention only for severe injuries
IrradiationIrradiation Internal Internal ContaminationContamination
External External ContaminationContamination
Radiation Exposure TypesRadiation Exposure TypesRadiation Exposure TypesRadiation Exposure Types
****
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Basic Mechanism
DNA is the primary target for biological effects
Health Effects of Radiation Exposure
• Lethal at high doses
• Mutagenic
• Carcinogenic
• Other biological effects, especially at high doses
IngestionIngestion InhalationInhalation SurfaceSurface
LymphLymphNodesNodes
LungLung SkinSkin1. Intact1. Intact2. Wounds2. Wounds
BloodBlood
KidneyKidney Deposition SitesDeposition Sites
FecesFeces UrineUrine
1. Whole Body1. Whole Body2. Bone2. Bone3. Liver3. Liver
4. Thyroid4. Thyroid
Intake:Intake:
Uptake:Uptake:
Excretion:Excretion:
GIGITractTract
(Recycle)(Recycle)
Lung ClearanceLung Clearance
Radionuclide Uptake
Patient Management - Triage
Triage based on:
• Injuries
• Signs and symptoms - nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea
• History - Where were you when the bomb exploded?
• Contamination survey
Treatment for Unknown Radionuclide
• Unless treatment is instituted quickly, its effectiveness will be limited.
• Use of emetics, lavage, charcoal, and/or laxatives are common.
• Radionuclide-specific
• Most effective when administered early
• May need to act on preliminary information
Treatment of Internal Contamination
Radionuclide TreatmentRoute
Cesium-137 Prussian blue Oral
Iodine-125/131 Potassium iodide Oral
Strontium-90 Aluminum phosphate Oral
Americium-241/ Ca- and Zn-DTPA IV infusion,Plutonium-239/nebulizerCobalt-60
Surface Contamination…Injury
• First irrigate wounds, then follow the same clothing removal and washing routine.
• After decontamination, continue to treat wounds in the usual manner.
Key Points• Medical stabilization is the highest priority
• Train/drill to ensure competence and confidence
• Pre-plan to ensure adequate supplies and survey instruments are available
• Universal precautions and decontaminating patients minimizes exposure and contamination risk
• Early symptoms and their intensity are an indication of the severity of the radiation injury
• The first 24 hours are the worst; then you will likely have many additional resources
All Emergencies Are Local
Terrorist Attack
Local Public Health Response Organizations
State Public Health Response Organizations
Federal Public Health Response Organizations
Local Government Responsibilities
• Local Chief Executive Officer (i.e., mayor, city or county manager)
– Coordinates local resources
– Suspends local laws or ordinances Communicates with the public
State and Local Public Health Response
• Monitor workers’ health and safety
• Assure safe shelters and healthy food and water supplies
• Coordinate sampling and laboratory analysis of samples
State and Local Public Health Response
• Field investigations and monitoring of people
• Criteria for entry and operations at the incident site
• Disease control and prevention measures
Medical Support
• Evaluate health and medical impacts on the public and emergency personnel
• Develop medical intervention recommendations
• Treat impacted citizens
• Request Strategic National Stockpile (formerly National Pharmaceutical Stockpile)
Facility Recovery
• Remove waste from the treatment area
• Survey facility for contamination
• Decontaminate as necessary
– Normal cleaning routines (mop, strip waxed floors) typically very effective
– Periodically reassess contamination levels
– Replace furniture, floor tiles, etc. that cannot be adequately decontaminated
• Goal: Less than twice normal background… higher levels may be acceptable
Long-term Response Issues
• Surveillance and epidemiological studies
• Establish exposure registry and monitor long-term impacts
• Provide information to public and responders on long-term health effects
Day 18 –Monday 4:00 pm
Letter received at WSMV, a local news station, from a terrorist claiming responsibility for contamination of milk with a radioactive material.
VARIOUS AGENCY VARIOUS AGENCY ROLES/RESPONSESROLES/RESPONSES
Handout # 4
Question ?
How would this new information change the investigation/situation for your agency?
Question ?
Who in your agency would be involved in the response?
Question ?
Who is your agency’s primary point of contact?
Question ?
With which other agencies would you be communicating? With whom exactly?
Question ?
What are the three most urgent priorities for your agency at this point?
Question ?
What resources does your agency have for the response? Where are they located? How will you access and mobilize them?
Question ?
Who is in charge of the situation? Why?
MEDIA SEGMENTMEDIA SEGMENT
THE SCENARIO THE SCENARIO UNFOLDSUNFOLDS
Various agencies deployed to the Sunrise Dairy production facility to confirm presence and extent of residual radiation.
Geiger counters measure radiation, identifies one milk-storage silo.
Investigation Reveals….
Law enforcement personnel trace source back to 2 suspects, get confessions, and learn through interrogation that 2 other suspects have died, likely due to exposure.
Law enforcement personnel learn that 64 grams of Cesium-137 were placed in milk tanker by 4 terrorists.
THE DEBRIEFINGTHE DEBRIEFING
Debriefing
Discuss the events of the exercise Identify gaps in plans, policies, and
procedures Identify useful information (effective
responses)Plan next stepsComplete evaluation forms