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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Investigation: Interview of Infectious Diseases Specialist Craig Smith

Aired October 25, 2001 - 08:05   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There is a debate about the best way to beat and treat anthrax: the most common treatment, antibiotics. But some suggest the anthrax vaccine should also be used along with antibiotics.

We turn now to Dr. Craig Smith. He is with the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He joins us from San Francisco this morning, where he is attending his group's annual conference.

Good morning -- welcome, sir.

DR. CRAIG SMITH, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit about the debate under way, about whether any of these people who have been exposed to anthrax should take a vaccine in addition to the antibiotics they are taking.

SMITH: Well, we have a long experience with the anthrax vaccine actually being developed back in the 1950s and licensed in 1970. And we know that it is protective, from wool sorters and both animal studies showing the protection. What the studies have shown is that if you have the vaccine before you are exposed, then you would have protection from the inhalational and, potentially, the cutaneous anthrax, although that's less determined. But if you are exposed and you are getting antibiotics with the vaccine, you can cut the antibiotic amount in half, so that you would be able to only take 30 days of Cipro with the vaccine, versus the 60 days, and get the same protection.

ZAHN: But as you know, Doctor, there are Americans, particularly many of whom have served this country honorably, who adamantly refuse to take this anthrax vaccine as a preventive caution.

And I wanted to quickly play something that Sonnie Bates had to say last night on the "WOLF BLITZER" show on CNN. He was a major in the U.S. Air Force and resigned last March under honorable conditions, for refusing the anthrax vaccine. Here is his concern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONNIE BATES, FORMER U.S. AIR FORCE MAJOR: I wouldn't take that vaccine if it were the last vaccine on left. It's quarantined right now for a good reason: 7 million doses are at BioPort sitting there because of suspect contamination, because the vaccine has not been made in accordance with the FDA's standards.

Most of the people that take the vaccine are probably not going to get sick, but most studies show that 30 to 40 percent of the people that take the vaccine are going to get sick, and about 5 percent of the people are going to have long-lasting health problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: So, Doctor, what is your reaction to his concern about this?

SMITH: Some of the statistics he used are correct, but they are overstatements. The 30 percent that he is discussing are people who have minor reactions, like you might get with any injection, with some arrhythmia or redness and a little bit of tenderness.

The 5 percent he's discussing is people that have what we call constitutional symptoms, where you may have a low-grade fever or a little body ache after a vaccine, but we see this with almost all vaccines. There are no studies that show that there are longstanding side effects or chronic diseases or any other complications.

The BioPort vaccine that's been produced is the same vaccine that's been produced for decades. It was produced by the Michigan State Health Department. And then when the demand went up with the military, this became a commercial operation, and it became regulated by the FDA.

The vaccine that he's discussing is not contaminated or adulterated. The problem was more regulatory than process or quality oriented.

ZAHN: You say the studies don't show any linkage with serious health problems, but as you know, there are a number of people in the military who feel that eventually there is going to be some sort of linkage shown between this vaccine and symptoms related to Gulf War Syndrome. Shed some light on that this morning.

SMITH: Having been a Gulf War participant myself, as an Army infectious disease doctor at the time, many people received that vaccine, and those people have been studied extensively and are still being studied. To say that there will be no absolute connection in the future is impossible without a crystal ball.

But all of the studies to date -- and this is thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors and airmen who have been studied that received the vaccine -- among other problems, there's been no connection seen. And as I stated, this is a vaccine that has decades' worth of experience, even before the Gulf War.

ZAHN: You, obviously, have had this depth of experience in the Gulf War. Give us your insights as to what the men and women serving this country might be facing in this war, in terms of a bioterrorist threat. Have most of them been vaccinated? SMITH: Well, the vaccine program for the military ended several years ago, and there was question of the vaccine quality or production. However, many of the members had been vaccinated in the past.

There is no question that there is state-sponsored bioterrorism or biowarfare capabilities in many countries. Whether the Taliban or bin Laden has a connection with that bioterrorism or those resources, it's been shown that he's been in locations, or his agents have been in locations. So presumably, they may have access to those weapons.

However, the military is prepared for that. All of the soldiers in the special ops would have been vaccinated, and the chemical gear and biological gear is protective against all of the agents that we discuss in biological warfare or bioterrorism.

ZAHN: So help me understand this morning. Even though the vaccination program, you said, was stopped a couple of years ago, can we make the assumption that most of the men and women serving our country right now haven't been vaccinated? Or just the special forces were?

SMITH: I'm not privileged to any secret information any more than any other regular doctor is now. But the presumption would be that if you are sending troops into areas that could potentially be hot zones, you would vaccinate them beforehand. And the military vaccinates for possibilities, you know, not knowing what your enemy may produce at the time or use, is a big question that you can't afford to ignore when you're finding an operation.

So at this time, if there is good information that bin Laden has access to these weapons and might use these weapons, then I have no doubt that the frontline troops or the special operations troops have been vaccinated appropriately.

ZAHN: Dr. Smith, good of you to join us this morning, and good luck with your meetings.

SMITH: Thank you very much. Good morning.

ZAHN: Thanks.

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