Bacillus anthracis Contamination and Inhalational Anthrax in a Mail Processing and Distribution Center

Details

• Personal Author:
  Davies MM ; Echt, Alan S. ; Hales, Thomas R. ; Horan, John M. ; Kim D ; McCleery, Robert E. ; Muller P ; Piacitelli, Chris A. ; Sanderson, Wayne T. ; Schnorr, Teresa M. ; Stoddard RR ; Ward, Elizabeth M.
• Description:
  AIMS: Four inhalational anthrax cases occurred in a large mail processing and distribution center in Washington, DC, after envelopes containing Bacillus anthracis spores were processed. This report describes the results of sampling for B. anthracis spores during investigations conducted in October and December 2001. METHODS AND RESULTS: Wet swabs, wet wipes, vacuum sock, and air-filter samples were collected throughout the facility to characterize the extent of building contamination. The results showed widespread contamination of B. anthracis spores, particularly associated with one delivery bar code sorter (DBCS) machine that had sorted the spore-containing envelopes and an area where the envelopes were handled by postal workers. Spore concentrations decreased as distance from the DBCS machine increased, but spores were widely dispersed into surrounding areas. CONCLUSION: The spatial distribution of culture positive samples was closely related to the work areas of the inhalational anthrax cases and supported epidemiological evidence that the workers became ill from exposure to B. anthracis spores in areas where the contaminated envelopes had travelled. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The results of this investigation were used to guide decontamination efforts and provided baseline spore concentrations for follow-up measurements after the building had been cleaned. Implementing methods to reduce aerosolization and dispersion of dust within the facility would reduce postal workers' potential exposures to bioterrorism agents. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Bacteria Bacterial Infections Biological Warfare Agents Dust Environmental Monitoring Microbiology Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-sampling Author Keywords: Anthrax Bacillus Anthracis Bacterial-disease Bacterial-dusts Bacterial-infections Bacterial Spores Biological-weapons Bioterrorism Microorganisms Postal-employees Postal Facility Sampling Sampling-equipment Sampling-methods Surface Sampling

  More +
• ISSN:
  1364-5072
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology ; DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies ; DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  96
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025690
• Citation:
  J Appl Microbiol 2004 May; 96(5):1048-1056
• Contact Point Address:
  Wayne T. Sanderson, The University of Iowa, 100 Oakdale Campus, #134 IREH, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
• Email:
  wayne-sanderson@uiowa.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Applied Microbiology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a70408b7b000cf9f18037da5b7f7d448522580a655bac5ac92bedf6cac6b18b670d8c3c38674a71938ab750b57a663ce2efddebac28f634da58822421744db73
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/196955/cdc_196955_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 182.75 KB ]