Transport of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki from an Outdoor Release into Buildings: Pathways of Infiltration and a Rapid Method to Identify Contaminated Buildings
Field and simulation study demonstrates rapid entryway and HVAC screening identifies indoor contamination in urban buildings, highlighting an efficient protocol to expedite recovery.
Key Points
Assess the indoor infiltration pathways of aerosolized biological agents following wide-area outdoor releases and evaluate rapid sampling strategies to identify contaminated structures.
Collected indoor environmental samples from buildings adjacent to an outdoor spray zone of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (a surrogate for Bacillus anthracis) in Fairfax County, VA, in 2009.
Combined probabilistic and targeted indoor sampling regimens with computational transport simulations to model infiltration pathways.
Simulations and field data demonstrated that sampling entryway surfaces and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) filters reliably rules in building contamination.
Targeted sampling yielded significant time and labor savings compared to exhaustive statistical characterization, although negative results could not be used to rule out contamination.