Contact: Ranjit Arab, KU University Relations, (785) 864-8855, [email protected].
Bioterrorism: Germ expert says focus on the germs you can control
LAWRENCE, Kan. --Originally, John "Jack" Brown, professor of molecular biosciences at University of Kansas, wrote the new book "Don't Touch That Doorknob! How germs can zap you and how you can zap back" (Warner Books, 2001) as a resource to inform people about fighting the germs they are most likely to encounter daily.
But ever since the isolated cases of anthrax, people seem less interested in the chapters that deal with fighting germs in the kitchen, bathroom and day care, and more concerned with the material addressed in the book's penultimate chapter, which deals with the possible threats of biological weapons.
"The fact that a person or persons would be willing to provide that organism to cause harm and death to individuals shocked people greatly," he said. "People had heard about bioterrorism and biological warfare, but really coming face-to-face with it is obviously a quite different issue."
Brown's book already is on the Barnes and Noble bookstore chain's list of the 25 best-selling books about germs, and Brown is in high demand among reporters and readers as a source on germs and germ warfare.
While he understands the heightened concern about anthrax and other possible biological weapons, Brown said it is important that people determine the likelihood of the risks.
"I believe that it is human nature to be concerned about the unknown," he said. "But as a consequence, we may be more fearful of things like anthrax or other events over which we have little, if any, individual control instead of things with which we are more familiar."
Rather than rushing out to purchase gas masks or anthrax antibiotics, people should maintain faith in the medical and law enforcement authorities to handle the possibility of further terrorist attacks, he said. At the same time, people should continue to take proactive measures for the things they can control, such as getting flu shots and cooking and storing food at the proper temperatures.
"By simply becoming vaccinated against the flu virus, we may be able to avoid being one of the more than 20,000 deaths and over 100,000 hospitalizations that occur each year in this country as a direct result of complications from the flu," he said.
In 18 easy-to-read chapters, the book outlines the areas people can control, addressing everything from the difference between bacteria and viruses to the most effective way to clean the bathroom. It is all aimed at arming people with the most important weapon against germs: knowledge.
"The best thing to do in any of these situations is to become as well-informed as possible -- to determine relative risks as best we can -- and then take action in areas that we can, indeed, effect an outcome," he said. "Without knowledge we can't know which areas these may be."
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