NEW YORK (AP) - Pediatricians are warning that the nation's health-care system is ill-prepared to treat child victims of a large-scale bioterrorism attack.

Children are already at a disadvantage because of their size, their developing immune systems and their higher respiratory rates - which means they breathe in contaminants faster than adults do.

But hospitals have few guidelines for when children have been exposed, said Dr. Irwin Redlener, head of New York's Children's Hospital at Montefiore and the nonprofit Children's Health Fund.

Redlener said he fears a "terrible and disproportionate toll of illness and death" if there is a widespread biological or chemical attack.

For instance, if an adult is brought in after chemical exposure, a decontamination shower is often the first step. But such a shower could send a small child into shock, Redlener said.

There are also worries about the lack of research on antidotes and antibiotics and their effect on the youngsters. More information is needed on the proper dosages for children and whether the drugs should be administered to youngsters at all, Redlener said.

Cipro - considered the most effective antibiotic for treating anthrax - is not recommended for children in most cases because animal testing has pointed to arthritis problems developing later in life.

Last year the Food and Drug Administration mandated that children be included in all drug research.

Dr. Louis Cooper, acting president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said pediatricians have been studying exposure to anthrax, smallpox and sarin nerve gas since Sept. 11.

"These are things that would have been unthinkable not too long ago. Smallpox was ancient history," Cooper said. "Now we're trying to be prepared for anything."

On Monday, it was disclosed that the 7-month-old son of an ABC News producer was infected with anthrax. He is taking antibiotics and is expected to recover.

"Apparently, it was a persistent mother who pushed for more tests for her child. The medical community is doing a great job, but we've never had to face anything like this before," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who introduced legislation aimed at better shielding children from the effects of bioterrorism.

Clinton's bill, drafted before the baby was sickened, would train health care workers to recognize and treat symptoms of chemical or biological attacks and would fund more research on children's medications.

Her legislation would also create a task force of pediatric experts to advise federal authorities.

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