Are we prepared for bioterrorism? As fear of anthrax spreads, public health officials debate America's readiness. (opinion).

YES Never has our nation's public health surveillance been more important, and all public health officials are dedicated to being even more thoroughly prepared to respond tomorrow than we are today. We should be proud of how well we have responded to events that have broken our hearts even as they have steeled our resolve.

Already, President Bush has requested an additional $1.5 billion to strengthen our ability to prevent and respond to a bioterrorism attack. Two thirds of that money is for the production of vaccines and antibiotics. It includes $643 million to expand our supply of pharmaceuticals.

This stockpile already includes eight preassembled packs, each containing at least 84 types of supplies--things like antibiotics, needles, IVs, and oxygen masks. These packs are spread around the country so they can be shipped to any trouble spot within 12 hours to supplement the local response to any bioterror threat. We are currently preparing four more packs to make more emergency supplies available, more quickly.

We're also providing $50 million to assist hospitals in preparing for, and responding to, incidents requiring the immunization or treatment of huge numbers of people. The President is requesting $40 million to improve early detection and to identify potential threats before anyone gets sick.

America's citizens can be sure that their government agencies--local, state, and federal--are ready to respond to biological warfare and bioterrorism quickly and effectively throughout the country.

--TOMMY G. THOMPSON Secretary, U.S. Health and Human Services Department

NO Disaster plans at the nation's hospitals are suddenly being reviewed with an urgency that has not been displayed before. A biological attack was long thought to have a risk factor of near zero. Unfortunately, we now know better.

The nation's healthcare system is already operating under financial constraints, including decreased staff and an insufficient number of beds. Healthcare providers, who in the past showed little or no interest in bioterrorism lectures, are now showing up in droves. They are hungry for information on diagnosis and treatment. The good news is that they are getting that information.

At present, few hospitals have the capability to deal effectively with an additional 500 patients seeking treatment for an infectious disease. Most facilities have limited bed space for critical patients, staff shortages, and not enough medication on hand. Health departments across the country are currently being overwhelmed by both legitimate anthrax cases and hoaxes.

But it's not all as bad as it seems. Federal funding for healthcare has sharply increased. Nationally there are ample antibiotics to treat patients and efforts are under way to move these medicines to frontline hospitals. And communication between local, state, and federal health departments and hospitals has improved.

I'm sorry it took such sad events to prompt preventive measures that should have been taken long ago, but we are now much better prepared than we were a month ago.

--DR. NEILL OSTER, Director, Disaster Emergency Medical Service, Mt. Sinai and Elmhurst Hospitals, New York, N.Y.

BIOTERRORISM/THE BACKGROUND

Bioterrorism is the use, or threatened use, of germs, disease, or other biological agents as a weapon of terror. Most of these substances exist naturally, but scientists worry they could be modified by terrorists to make them more harmful, far-reaching, or resistant to treatment.