Evaluation of Bacillus anthracis Contamination Inside the Brentwood Mail Processing and Distribution Center – District of Columbia, October 2001

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Klusaritz, B. ; Muller, P. ; Small, D. ; Klusaritz, B. ; Muller, P. ; Small, D.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ; National Center for Infectious Diseases ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ; National Center for Infectious Diseases
• Description:
  During October 19-21, 2001, four postal workers at the Brentwood Mail Processing and Distribution Center in the District of Columbia were hospitalized with inhalational anthrax; two of the workers died. The building, which was closed on October 21, was believed to have been contaminated by a letter containing Bacillus anthracis spores sent to the Hart Senate Office Building (HSOB) that had passed through the postal facility on October 12. A second contaminated letter addressed to another U.S. senator that was processed through the same mail sorter and sort run as the first letter was discovered on November 17. This report describes the results of CDC's evaluation of B. anthracis in the facility, which showed widespread contamination of the facility and suggest that wipe samples and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuum samples complement each other in assessing contamination. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Bacteria Bacterial Infections Biological Warfare Agents Dust Environmental Monitoring Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Safety Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-sampling Bacterial-disease Bacterial-dusts Bacterial-infections Biological-weapons Machine-operation Machine-operators Materials-handling Materials-handling-equipment Materials-testing Materials-transport Postal-employees Region-3 Sampling Sampling-equipment Sampling-methods Vacuum-equipment

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• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)   ; Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)  
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  50
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022583
• Citation:
  MMWR 2001 Dec; 50(50):1129-1133
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Infectious Diseases ; Work Environment and Workforce: Indoor Environment ; Disease and Injury: Infectious Diseases ; Work Environment and Workforce: Indoor Environment
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  4311 - U.S. Postal Service - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:77014f4062b2b8859f6b2b5b5af2feaeaf4bde9c92da9d89091b0af24d7f79157b0ebe3cc6a258b78440c1648326eb452ef8981f539fe00b24e39748920ff169
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183083/cdc_183083_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 152.36 KB ]