A NUMBER of villagers in Smailholm feel health chiefs have over-reacted in dealing with the anthrax scare at the local hall.
This week saw a 20-strong team of American experts descend on the village, where they have encased the local hall in a special white tarpaulin membrane ahead of pumping in chlorine dioxide gas to decontaminate the building after traces of anthrax were found late last year.
The investigation started last summer, after 50-year-old Stobs man, Pascal Norris, died from anthrax. Enquries uncovered a link with Smailholm Village Hall, where Mr Norris attended African drumming sessions.
Small traces of anthrax were then found on drums which were stored in the hall and on drums and the skins used to make them at another property in Northumberland.
Once Smailholm hall has been decontaminated, the specialists will start on a garage opposite the hall which was also used to store drums.
As the specialist fumigation work – expected to last a week – got underway, village hall committee chairman, Tom Lithgow, told TheSouthern that having the hall closed since November had been a serious inconvenience, but that most residents accepted the need for decontamination.
"But a question remains over whether the amount of anthrax found warranted the sort of response we are seeing this week," Mr Lithgow said.
"I am no expert, so I can't say. Once they said the hall was contaminated, it then had to be decontaminated otherwise we'd have been left with a tainted hall. But there has been a feeling from some that the health authority has gone overboard here."
Mr Lithgow says, as far as he understands, anthrax occurs naturally in the environment, including in soil. "And if that's the case, probably any village hall will have some traces of it with lots of people tramping in and out all the time."
Asked if he thought those critical of NHS Borders' response were in danger of forgetting one man had already died in the Borders from anthrax, Mr Lithgow said this was not the case.
"I don't think people have forgotten. But there's some doubt whether the village hall had anything to do with that (Mr Norris's death)."
The head of Sabre, John Mason, and his team have extensive experience in anthrax decontamination, having been called in as a result of the anthrax attacks on Washington DC's Capitol Hill and postal centres in the United States in 2001. They were also involved in general decontamination work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.
"It is quite a straight-forward process," said Mr Mason, who is personally directing operations in Smailholm.
Special sensitive 'strips' will be in place throughout the hall and these will be checked afterwards for evidence of any anthrax spores growing on them.
If spores are still present, the decontamination process with chlorine dioxide will be repeated until spores are completely absent.
It is expected that sampling results will be available by the first week in April.
According to NHS Borders Director of Public Health, Dr Andrew Riley, no final report on the circumstances surrounding Mr Norris' death will be issued until the Procurator Fiscal decides whether there is to be a Fatal Accident Inquiry.
