Abstract
During an investigation conducted December 17–20, 2001, we collected environmental samples from a U.S. postal facility in Washington, D.C., known to be extensively contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores. Because methods for collecting and analyzing B. anthracis spores have not yet been validated, our objective was to compare the relative effectiveness of sampling methods used for collecting spores from contaminated surfaces. Comparison of wipe, wet and dry swab, and HEPA vacuum sock samples on nonporous surfaces indicated good agreement between results with HEPA vacuum and wipe samples. However, results from HEPA vacuum sock and wipe samples agreed poorly with the swab samples. Dry swabs failed to detect spores >75% of the time they were detected by wipe and HEPA vacuum samples. Wipe samples collected after HEPA vacuum samples and HEPA vacuum samples after wipe samples indicated that neither method completely removed spores from the sampled surfaces.
Highlights
During an investigation conducted December 17–20, 2001, we collected environmental samples from a U.S postal facility in Washington, D.C., known to be extensively contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores
Even though the Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS) machine that processed the contaminated letters had been cleaned by HEPA vacuum, washed with a 10% sodium hypochlorite solution followed by neutralization with a sodium thiosulfate solution, and rinsed with water, this machine was reportedly still contaminated with B. anthracis spores [8]
The calculated concentrations of B. anthracis spores in the culture-positive HEPA vacuum sock samples tended to be greater than in the other types of samples
Summary
During an investigation conducted December 17–20, 2001, we collected environmental samples from a U.S postal facility in Washington, D.C., known to be extensively contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores. 17) that processed the contaminated letters had been cleaned by HEPA vacuum, washed with a 10% sodium hypochlorite solution followed by neutralization with a sodium thiosulfate solution, and rinsed with water, this machine was reportedly still contaminated with B. anthracis spores [8]. For these reasons, the Brentwood facility was thought to be a good location to compare surface sampling and analytical methods
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