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Medical Residents Misdiagnose Bioterror Illnesses
A study released yesterday found that doctors in training had difficulties diagnosing diseases associated with bioterrorism, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 7, 2003). The study of 631 doctors — mostly residents — published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that: half of the doctors surveyed misdiagnosed botulism; 84 percent misdiagnosed plague; and chickenpox was misdiagnosed as smallpox 42 percent of the time, according to AP. These miscues could lead to the spread of infection to others, said study co-author Stephen Sisson of the John Hopkins School of Medicine. “The risk of spread goes up logarithmically,” he said. Residents in the study took an online training program following the test. In testing after the course, their correct diagnoses averaged nearly 80 percent, AP reported. The average prior to the Web program was 47 percent. Sisson said that problems uncovered by the 2001 anthrax attacks, when four victims were discharged without being diagnosed properly, continue to trouble the medical field. He called for bioterrorism response training in medical residency programs. Better planning for bioterrorism response is needed, said Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health. “We've got a dangerous gap here and we need a much clearer strategic game plan,” she said. This year, Congress allocated $252 million for “health professions training activities.” However, President George W. Bush’s fiscal 2006 budget does not include the funding, according to AP (Carla Johnson, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26).
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