WASHINGTON (AP) — If there ever is another anthrax attack, a letter carrier may deliver antibiotics to those who might be infected.
Federal health officials are beginning a project in Minneapolis-St. Paul to let letter carriers stockpile personal supplies of emergency antibiotics so they are protected and ready to deliver aid to the rest of the city.
The project seeks to overcome a big hurdle of emergency planning. The government has many drugs stockpiled in case of bioterrorism but few ways to get them quickly to people who need them.
Carriers could provide “a front-end quick strike,” said William Raub, senior science counselor to Michael O. Leavitt, health and human services secretary.
Test projects in Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston over the past two years paired carriers with police officers on holidays. Carriers volunteered to do double routes, delivering empty pill bottles along with fliers explaining what was happening. In Philadelphia, 50 carriers reached about 53,000 households in eight hours, Mr. Raub said…...read rest of story……
