Friday, February 07, 2003, 20:05 EST (8:05 PM EST)
CDCHAN-00112-03-02-07-ADV-N
National Terrorism Threat Level Increase
Today Jerome Hauer, Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Health and Emergency Preparedness, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), briefed the nation's state public health officials about the rationale for increasing the national threat condition for risk of terrorism attack. Based on information received and analyzed by the federal intelligence community, the national threat level was raised from elevated risk ("yellow") to high risk ("orange"). Mr. Hauer warned public health officials of increased domestic threats against U.S. citizens. Specific threat agents cited include botulism and ricin toxins, cyanide, VX and sarin nerve agents, and radiological dispersion devices ("dirty bombs").
HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are providing this information to assist the public health community in increasing their level of preparedness for these threat agents.
Information on threat agents is available at the CDC website (www.cdc.gov).
Additional materials will be posted at the following sites in the coming days.
Botulism information: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/botulism/
Cyanide information: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/lung/Cyanide
Radiation Emergency Response information: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/response.htm
Radiation facts for 1st Responders and Physicians: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/fr_physicians.htm
Ricin information: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/ricin/
Sarin information: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/Nerve/Sarin
VX information: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/Nerve/VX
General information about the health effects of terrorism threat agents is available at http://www.bt.cdc.gov and http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov
For questions, technical assistance, or to report an event, please call the CDC Emergency Operations Center at 770-488-7100. More information will be provided once additional details are known.
HAN Message Types
- Health Alert: Conveys the highest level of importance; warrants immediate action or attention. Example: HAN00001
- Health Advisory: Provides important information for a specific incident or situation; may not require immediate action. Example: HAN00316
- Health Update: Provides updated information regarding an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action. Example: HAN00309
- Info Service: Provides general information that is not necessarily considered to be of an emergent nature. Example: HAN00319
## This Message was distributed to State and Local Health Officers, Public Information Officers, Epidemiologists and HAN Coordinators as well as Clinician organizations ##
You have received this message based upon the information contained within our emergency notification database. If you have a different or additional e-mail or fax address that you would like us to use, please contact your State-based Health Alert Network program at your State or local health department.
- Content source: CDC Emergency Risk Communication Branch (ERCB), Division of Emergency Operations (DEO), Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR)
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