Whole‐building decontamination of Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores by methyl bromide fumigation
نویسندگان
چکیده
AIMS To evaluate the field inactivation of Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores with methyl bromide (MB) using commercial fumigation techniques. METHODS AND RESULTS Eighty-seven wood and 87 glass coupons each containing ca. 1 × 10(6) B. anthracis Sterne spores, were placed in 22 locations inside a 1444 m(3) conference building. Four additional 12-coupon sets (six wood, six glass) were removed from the building at 16, 24, 32 and 40 h during fumigation. The building was sealed under two tarpaulins and fumigated with MB at ≥225 g m(-3) mean concentration for 48 h at 28°C and 83% RH. All B. anthracis spores fumigated for more than 16 h were inactivated. A single wood coupon from the 16-h set yielded ca. 2 × 10(3) CFU. No damage to the building or its contents was observed. CONCLUSIONS MB fumigation is a rapid, economical and effective whole-structure decontamination method for B. anthracis spores. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY MB fumigation offers a method of whole-structure B. anthracis decontamination without removal of materials, damage to sensitive electronics, costly indoor retrofitting.
منابع مشابه
Evaluation of the Efficacy of Methyl Bromide in the Decontamination of Building and Interior Materials Contaminated with Bacillus anthracis Spores
The primary goal of this study was to determine the conditions required for the effective inactivation of Bacillus anthracis spores on materials by using methyl bromide (MeBr) gas. Another objective was to obtain comparative decontamination efficacy data with three avirulent microorganisms to assess their potential for use as surrogates for B. anthracis Ames. Decontamination tests were conducte...
متن کاملDecontamination Efficacy of Three Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Sporicidal Disinfectants on Medium-Sized Panels Contaminated with Surrogate Spores of Bacillus anthracis
In the event of a wide area release and contamination of a biological agent in an outdoor environment and to building exteriors, decontamination is likely to consume the Nation's remediation capacity, requiring years to cleanup, and leading to incalculable economic losses. This is in part due to scant body of efficacy data on surface areas larger than those studied in a typical laboratory (5×10...
متن کاملDecontamination Efficacy and Skin Toxicity of Two Decontaminants against Bacillus anthracis
Decontamination of bacterial endospores such as Bacillus anthracis has traditionally required the use of harsh or caustic chemicals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a chlorine dioxide decontaminant in killing Bacillus anthracis spores in solution and on a human skin simulant (porcine cadaver skin), compared to that of commonly used sodium hypochlorite or soapy water decont...
متن کاملA Novel Approach for Conducting Room-scale Vaporous Hydrogen Peroxide Decontamination of Virulent Bacillus anthracis Spores
Studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of various decontamination technologies against virulent B. anthracis and surrogate spores within small, bench-scale chambers. This study assessed an approach for evaluating room-scale (~2,700 ft3) decontamination efficacy of vaporous hydrogen peroxide fumigation against B. anthracis Ames and B. subtilis spores deposited onto porous and non-...
متن کاملEffect of inoculation method on the determination of decontamination efficacy against Bacillus spores
Decontamination studies investigating the effectiveness of products and processes for the inactivation of Bacillus species spores have traditionally utilized metering viable spores in a liquid suspension onto test materials (coupons). The current study addresses the representativeness of studies using this type of inoculation method compared to when coupons are dosed with a metered amount of ae...
متن کامل