Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense
Open Access

Research Article

Lab-Scale Assessment to Support Remediation of Outdoor Surfaces Contaminated with Bacillus anthracis Spores

M. Worth Calfee^1*, Young Choi², James Rogers², Thomas Kelly², Zachary Willenberg² and Karen Riggs²

¹U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Homeland Security Research Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

²Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH, USA

*Corresponding Author:

M. Worth Calfee
U.S. EPA, MD E343-06 109 TW Alexander Dr.
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA
Tel: 919- 541-7600
Fax: 919- 541-0496
E-mail: calfee.worth@epa.gov

Received Date: May 23, 2011; Accepted Date: June 14, 2011; Published Date: July 23, 2011

Citation: Calfee MW, Choi Y, Rogers J, Kelly T, Willenberg Z, et al. (2011) Lab-Scale Assessment to Support Remediation of Outdoor Surfaces Contaminated with Bacillus anthracis Spores. J Bioterr Biodef 2:110. doi: 10.4172/2157-2526.1000110

Copyright: © 2011 Calfee MW. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Six liquid sporicides were evaluated for their ability to decontaminate common outdoor materials contaminated with spores of Bacillus anthracis Ames. Liquid aliquots containing spores of B. anthracis Ames were dried onto small coupons made of the outdoor materials: stainless steel, glass, aluminum, porcelain, granite, concrete, brick, asphalt, treated wood, and butyl rubber. Survivorship of spores was assessed following treatment of the coupons with each of six spray-applied sporicidal liquids (pH-amended Bleach, CASCAD™ SDF, Decon Green, EasyDECON® 200, Spor-Klenz® RTU, and Peridox® RTU). Results indicated that nonporous surfaces were easily decontaminated (all = 6 log10 reduction in viable spores) while porous surfaces, particularly concrete, asphalt, and treated wood, posed significant challenges for the sporicides tested. CASCAD™ SDF was the only sporicide tested that resulted in complete inactivation of spores on all materials. Overall, decontamination efficacy was highly dependent upon surface type, where generally higher efficacies were observed on nonporous materials for each sporicide. Results from this study will allow informed decisions to be made regarding selection of sporicides, based upon efficacy, to decontaminate outdoor surfaces contaminated with spores of Bacillus anthracis and therefore shorten the time and effort required to remediate following a bioterror incident.

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