NORTH-EAST doctors and nurses are being vaccinated against smallpox so they can provide a first response medical team in the event of a terrorist attack.

The 25-strong team of health professionals are being given anti-smallpox jabs as part of homeland defence plans drawn up by the Government.

Apart from assembling a first response team, health officials are also looking to identify an existing NHS site which could be turned into a 40-bed isolation unit at short notice.

The details were revealed by Dr John Woodhouse, deputy director of public health in the North-East, a week after the launch of a new body designed to improve public health coordination in the region, known as Health Protection Agency North-East.

While Dr Woodhouse stressed that the threat of a smallpox attack was "very low" he conceded that the potential impact could be "terrible" as the disease can be spread easily by face to face contact and kills about 30 per cent of those it infects.

Fears of a potential terrorist smallpox attack on the UK have been building after the September 11th attack on New York.

But officials have stressed that it would be virtually impossible to spread smallpox by simply releasing spores into an enclosed space such as a train or a building.

In the unlikely event of a smallpox outbreak, the first response team would attempt to vaccinate anyone who has come into contact with an infected person.

The North-East isolation unit would be one of a regional network set up across the UK.