This short report presents a response to an article written by Cibulsky et al. (2016). The paper by Cibulsky et al. presents a useful and timely overview of the evidence surrounding the technical and operational aspects of mass casualty decontamination. It identifies three priority targets for future research, the third of which is how casualties' needs can be met in ways that best support comp...

The paper investigates to what extent context dependency is present, when consumers are introduced to different risk reducing technologies and how this will affect their preferences for reductions in food risks. In particular, choice experiments are used to elicit consumer preferences for reducing Salmonella risks in pork using farm level interventions vs. decontamination of meat at the abattoi...

The efficiency and speed with which first responders, paramedics, and emergency physicians respond to an event caused by the release of a chemical is an important concern in all modern cities worldwide. A system for the initial triage and decontamination of victims of a chemical release was developed using colored clothes pegs of the following seven colors: red, yellow, green, black, white, and...

The efficacy of ultraviolet C (UVC) light (100-280 nm) in the decontamination of three hospital-related surfaces, namely, unpainted/painted aluminum (bed railings), stainless steel (operating tables), and scrubs (laboratory coats), was investigated. Acinetobacter baumannii cells were inoculated (10(5) or 10(3) cells) on small coupons and dried overnight in a class II biosafety cabinet. Drying r...

The National Laboratory Certification Program undertook an evaluation of the dynamics of external contamination of hair with cocaine (COC) while developing performance testing materials for Federal Drug-Free Workplace Programs. This characterization was necessary to develop performance materials that could evaluate the efficacy of hair testing industry's decontamination procedures. Hair locks (...

Despite regular disinfection and decontamination of the hospital floors and surfaces, resistant pathogens from the hospital surfaces and their transmission to humans have been reported recently. The resistance of pathogens to the disinfectant agents or failed disinfection techniques have put the routine floor and non-critical surface disinfection done in hospitals into question with regard to t...

The aim of the current study was to analyse the planktonic growth of Streptococcus mutans on the surfaces of three implants retrieved after three different peri-implantitis treatments. Three implants from a male patient with high levels of bone loss were treated by mechanical debridement, chemical decontamination, and implantoplasty. After 4 months of follow-up, the implants were removed. The g...

Food irradiation is one of a set of processing technologies that can be used to increase the microbiological safety and shelf life of a wide range of foods. Ionizing radiation is used to generate highly active chemical species within the food that react with DNA. Under normal usage conditions, the food receives a pasteurizing treatment that gives a valuable reduction in common food-spoilage org...

Current doctrine describes the use of the M291 Skin Decontamination Kit (SDK), 0.5% hypochlorite solution (household bleach diluted 1 to 10) and 1% soapy water solution to decontaminate skin exposed to chemical warfare agents. Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion (RSDL) is a new product being considered and was recently approved by the FDA. This study directly compares the efficacy of these fou...

In this study the decontamination procedures of laryngoscopes in Dutch hospitals are described, based on a structured telephone questionnaire. There were substantial differences between decontamination procedures in Dutch hospitals and the standards of the APIC (Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology), CDC (Centers of Disease Control) and ASA (American Society of Ane...