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If Dirty Bomb Explosion Unleashed, What Would Be Medical Fallout?

Aired June 11, 2002 - 10:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to our topic of a so-called dirty bomb. If such an explosion unleashed a radioactive cloud, what would be the medical fallout? For that we turn to our medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who is standing by in a decontamination room at a hospital right here in Atlanta.

Good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA: Hi, there. And yes, this is a room I didn't think I would be spending much time in. But as you said, a decontamination room, a room where people would probably be brought after a potential dirty bomb scare. Let's just back up for a second and look at what dirty bombs actually are and what they could possibly do to you.

Radiation experts like to look at three zones of dirty bombs: an outer zone, an intermediate zone and an inner zone. An outer zone is the one where most people would probably be affected. It is a zone that could be a few blocks away from the initial blast. It could be several hundred feet away, depending both on the strength of the explosives, as well as how much radiation material. In that situation, cells would -- the radiation would get into the cells of the body. From there they would actually go to the very center of the cell, and there at the center of the cell, they actually affect the DNA.

And I don't want to get too science-y here, Daryn. But basically, when this radiation gets into the center of the cells and DNA, it affects all future generations of cells. When those cells multiply in the future, it could possibly lead to things like cancer. The one we've been hearing so much about now, thyroid cancer, which could potentially be treated by surgery or prevented by potassium iodide if treated either before or after.

Now, the people who aren't that far away but a little bit more in intermediate away, they actually could get radiation sickness, as you see here, and that could make you sick to your stomach and decrease your immune system and certainly people who closest would actually get lots of radiation to the body. That could possibly cause massive cellular disruption and sudden death. And that's what people worry about the most. But what the real question then, I think, on the minds of a lot of people, is are we ready? For that, we have Dr. Joseph Waeckerle; he actually is a spokesman of disaster medicine and domestic preparedness, a great title, and somebody who can possibly help us answer these questions. Dr. Waeckerle, thank-you for joining us.

DR. JOSEPH WAECKERLE: Good morning. Thank you.

GUPTA: Doctor, do you think we're ready for a potential dirty bomb scare here in America?

WAECKERLE: I think there's various issues that we have to predict that we need to prepare for. We are very prepared for some of them. And certainly we can always be better prepared in the future. The blast injury component which you addressed earlier we can probably handle in most emergency departments in America. The radiation injuries would be a bit more of a challenge. And finally, the third component, which is probably the biggest component that we need to address, is the panic and the fact that many people will be concerned if they've been exposed and will come to emergency departments and overwhelming the emergency departments.

GUPTA: I'm actually here in a decontamination room. I'll just show you: There are showers all around me. There's this bag of clothes that people get. They strip off all their own clothes and put these clothes on. Could you walk us through sort of what would happen. Let's say a bomb were to go off in a crowded city. What would happen first? How would they even know that it was a dirty bomb? Talk us through that if you will.

WAECKERLE: Well, that's an interesting question. And that gets into the preparedness issue. I believe that the law enforcements agencies and the bomb technicians now have in their arsenal of protection and prevention tools detectors to determine radiation -- potential radiation hazards. And now that have a heightened index of suspicion in this country, if we have any large explosions, I believe the people, the fire and police are traditional first responders who go to the scene, will immediately begin to check for radiation.

If there is radiation, they will, as you said earlier, establish zones and then will begin the process of triage and decontamination on-scene. For those who need to come to the emergency department, certainly they will have to have, also, the capability of detecting radiation using various detectors and proceed with the decontamination and that emergency life-saving treatment.

GUPTA: Right. And you know, I imagine after something like that happens, it's just going to be helter-skelter, people running everywhere, people not sure what to do. What sort of tips can you give people if that situation were to arise? Should they go home? Should they stay put? Should they get into a building? What are some tips?

WAECKERLE: I think for those people potentially out there if an explosion occurs, the first thing to remember is that the amount of radiation is going to be very limited. And that the zones, as you talked about, will be potentially very small compared to other nuclear explosions, for example. There's not a lot of radiation isotopes, radio nucleides out there available to people. And most of them are spent, are somewhat wasted, so their power to cause radiation effects on a human being is very limited. So don't panic. Understand that you're going to have a minimal exposure for the most part. The second thing to understand is that if you simply take off your clothes, wash your hair and wash with soap and water, you will eliminate 95 percent of any radiation exposure that you have potentially had. And those two facts alone are good for the American public to understand, because the biggest thing we have to fear is the panic associated with this type of explosion. Again, I don't believe that dirty bombs will be that significant to a great number of people. What we have to be concerned about is taking care of a small number of people and also addressing the panic of those people who are worried that they've been exposed, when in fact they haven't.

GUPTA: Got it. Dr. Waeckerle, thank you very much. Those were good tips and worth listening to. Daryn, we're going to throw it back to you in Atlanta.

KAGAN: All right. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

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