BIOTERRORISM DRILL A.V. FAIR SITE USED TO GAUGE EFFORTS.

Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Hundreds of people lined up Tuesday at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds to test how quickly authorities could dispense stockpiled antibiotics to combat a bioterrorism attack.

Simulating an anthrax release, city and county workers stationed at folding tables handed out empty pill bottles to volunteers -- mostly students -- as officials kept count on the progress: The goal was 1,500 people an hour.

``We've done others before,'' Los Angeles County Public Health Director Dr. Jonathan Fielding said of the exercise. ``We learn each time. We try to refine and refine and refine.''

Considered one of the most deadly of potential terrorist weapons by the federal government, anthrax is a bacteria, which in a still-unsolved 2001 attack using the U.S. mail killed five people on the East Coast, sickened 17 and frightened millions more around the country.

Health officials could use mass distribution centers such as the fairgrounds to hand out drugs because anthrax is not known to spread from one person to another.

The 2001 attack used letters with powder containing anthrax; some people were sickened after opening or handling the letters, and some apparently from cross-contamination of other mail.

The scenario behind Tuesday's exercise was that Los Angeles County hospital emergency rooms and doctors' offices became swamped with thousands of people with flulike symptoms that didn't respond to the usual treatment. When lab results show anthrax bacteria, county officials call for federal stockpiles of antibiotics and open up mass distribution centers.

Besides examining the effectiveness of distribution plans, Tuesday's exercise also helped train county and city workers whose normal duties are more likely to consist of handling paperwork or computers rather than questioning people about health symptoms or dispensing drugs.

``It's good staff training,'' said city of Palmdale spokeswoman Barbara LaFata, whose city sent about 40 employees.

The 500 or so volunteers included Palmdale and Highland high school students as well as medical-career students and ordinary residents. They were handed cards that told them whether they had symptoms of anthrax infection, or whether their age or health conditions required special treatment.

Antelope Valley Union High School District trustee Ira Simonds, for example, was told by his card he was a 9-year-old boy who weighed 52 pounds. Simonds made nine trips through the process within the exercise's first 45 minutes, for a rate of about 6,000 patients an hour.

Dental assistant student Anthony Infante was there with his class. He was one of the volunteers whose cards said they had anthrax symptoms.

``I have a cough and a fever and am very weak and tired,'' Infante said.

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(1 -- 2 -- color) Above, volunteer Brian Whalen, right, directs would-be patients Tuesday in a drill involving more than 300 people to see how long it would take for small bottles representing antibiotics to be handed out in the event of an anthrax attack. The drill was held at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

(3 -- color) Volunteer Christine Wong, left, hands out medication to would-be patient Christine Ma as more than 300 volunteers took part in the point of distribution emergency test at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer