Recovery Efficiency and Limit of Detection of Aerosolized Bacillus anthracis Sterne from Environmental Surface Samples

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arduino MJ ; Baron, Paul A. ; Beard JK ; Deye GJ ; Estill, Cheryl F. ; Hein, Misty J. ; Hodges L ; Larsen LD ; Lindquist HDA ; Noble-Wang J ; Rose L ; Schaefer FW
• Description:
  After the 2001 anthrax incidents, surface sampling techniques for biological agents were found to be inadequately validated, especially at low surface loadings. We aerosolized Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores within a chamber to achieve very low surface loading (ca. 3, 30, and 200 CFU per 100 cm(2)). Steel and carpet coupons seeded in the chamber were sampled with swab (103 cm(2)) or wipe or vacuum (929 cm(2)) surface sampling methods and analyzed at three laboratories. Agar settle plates (60 cm(2)) were the reference for determining recovery efficiency (RE). The minimum estimated surface concentrations to achieve a 95% response rate based on probit regression were 190, 15, and 44 CFU/100 cm(2) for sampling steel surfaces and 40, 9.2, and 28 CFU/100 cm(2) for sampling carpet surfaces with swab, wipe, and vacuum methods, respectively; however, these results should be cautiously interpreted because of high observed variability. Mean REs at the highest surface loading were 5.0%, 18%, and 3.7% on steel and 12%, 23%, and 4.7% on carpet for the swab, wipe, and vacuum methods, respectively. Precision (coefficient of variation) was poor at the lower surface concentrations but improved with increasing surface concentration. The best precision was obtained with wipe samples on carpet, achieving 38% at the highest surface concentration. The wipe sampling method detected B. anthracis at lower estimated surface concentrations and had higher RE and better precision than the other methods. These results may guide investigators to more meaningfully conduct environmental sampling, quantify contamination levels, and conduct risk assessment for humans. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Biochemistry Biological Warfare Agents Disinfectants Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Microbiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Viral Diseases

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• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Air-monitoring Air-quality-measurement Airborne-particles Analytical-processes Biochemical-analysis Biodynamics Biohazards Biological-effects Biological-monitoring Biological-warfare-agents Biophysics Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Humans Microorganisms Qualitative-analysis Risk-analysis Risk-factors Sampling-methods Statistical-analysis Surface-properties Viral-diseases Viral-infections

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• ISSN:
  0099-2240
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies ; DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  75
• Issue:
  13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035582
• Citation:
  Appl Environ Microbiol 2009 Jul; 75(13):4297-4306
• Contact Point Address:
  Cheryl F. Estill, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DSHEFS, MS R-14, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  CEstill@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5d9bb02b56c9a6173ba32717c9539aa092db21d2a9515739dbc23883bf826c0d5123f0b88d5a5b4def90f9e5324e954c8254e1b37d65d23a60acdb854ad14d89
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187399/cdc_187399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 225.33 KB ]