It could be true, but for now it's just a story in the new book Sledgehammer about a terrorist who shows up at the ER with symptoms of smallpox. A doctor in the emergency room thinks so, but he or she only has six days to convince hospital leaders and the U.S. government before an epidemic starts.
Dr. Paulo J. Reyes, who got his MD at the UCSF School of Medicine and has worked in medicine and internal medicine for 25 years and is a First Responder for some of California's busiest cities, brings the story to life in a very real way.
Max Kruse, the main character in Sledgehammer, is a smart doctor who works in an emergency room. He thinks the attack was done by terrorists and fears that the Sledgehammer form of smallpox will kill him in a few days. The terrorists' plans to attack a sports arena, a mall and an airport must be stopped as time goes on. The question is whether or not this ER doctor can convince the hospital's management and the public health care system that this disease is real and that the American public needs to be vaccinated against it. In this nonstop thriller, you won't be able to stop reading until you find out the truth.
How dangerous is smallpox? Dr. Reyes says, "The Federal Government should let people get smallpox shots on their own to protect us from smallpox bioterrorist attacks." "At the very least, the Federal Government should let first responders, such as all hospital medical staff, get vaccinated if they want to. The President and everyone in the military has been immunized. Why shouldn't the people of America?"
Dr. Reyes has also written a book called "Health-Care Reform or Redistribution of Costs?" He has studied the health care system and seen where it falls short. He is for voluntary smallpox vaccinations because he knows there is a clear and present danger of a terrorist attack in the health care system.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sees smallpox as a possible threat. They list it on their website under the heading "Emergency Preparedness and Response" along with anthrax, plague, and tularemia as possible agents of a bioterrorist attack.
Reyes thinks that the Federal Government should think about testing for the virus in a way that is similar to a pregnancy test. This way, if the disease shows up, it will be found before it spreads and becomes an epidemic or pandemic.
Reyes says that most Americans don't have any immunity to smallpox, which means it could spread very quickly. He says that if the virus was spread through the air, which the CDC thinks may be the case, it would be even harder or even impossible to stop it.
With new terrorist attacks happening all the time in the U.S. and the fear of a global pandemic, Sledgehammer is an exciting book that shows what could happen if we don't act right away.
