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Hospitals around the country racing to develop a plan for treating patients exposed to anthrax and other biological agents now have a new partner in the fight: Stanford University Medical Center.

In direct response to national concerns about bioterrorism, a team of Stanford physicians, scientists and medical staff members are sharing with other hospitals nationwide the plan they've developed outlining how to assess and treat patients exposed to anthrax and smallpox while limiting the potential spread of the contamination. The Stanford plan also details how a variety of departments and personnel within a hospital would respond to a bioterrorism incident in which there were multiple victims.

Hospitals and physicians can access the plan as well as links to other resources on bioterrorism at:
http://www.bioterrorism.stanfordhospital.com.

The task force members represent all three entities of the medical center - Stanford Hospital & Clinics, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine. The members come from a variety of fields, including infectious diseases, microbiology, critical care medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine and psychiatry.

The task force also includes representatives who deal with patient-care, security and logistical issues within the hospitals. "We are extremely fortunate to have some of nation's top clinicians and researchers here at Stanford, and their expertise has been vital in helping us develop a plan for responding appropriately to anthrax cases and other incidents related to bioterrorism," said Eric A. Weiss, an emergency department physician at Stanford Hospital and co-chair of the task force.

"We know other hospitals are working on appropriate response plans as well, so by sharing our plan with them we hope to free up their time to focus on other pressing issues." He said the Stanford plan has two purposes - to ensure the health and proper treatment of the patient, and to limit the potential exposure of hospital staff and facilities.

"If a patient's exposure to a biological agent results in contamination of the emergency department and its personnel, a hospital would potentially have to close down its emergency department and thus be unable to help other patients," said Weiss, who is also an assistant professor of surgery (emergency medicine).

The Stanford plan is continually being modified and updated in accordance with frequent changes from the national Centers for Disease Control and the county health department, Weiss said.

"The information about anthrax is changing rapidly," Weiss said. "The cases being treated on the East Coast vary from what has been reported in the medical literature, and we have to adapt our understanding in light of these differences. We want to do everything possible to keep the information current."

Weiss said Stanford has shared the information with physicians in the local community so that they can respond appropriately.