Bacillus anthracis aerosolization associated with a contaminated mail sorting machine.
On October 12, 2001, two envelopes containing Bacillus anthracis spores passed through a sorting machine in a postal facility in Washington, D.C. When anthrax infection was identified in postal workers 9 days later, the facility was closed. To determine if exposure to airborne B. anthracis spores continued to occur, we performed air sampling around the contaminated sorter. One CFU of B. anthracis was isolated from 990 L of air sampled before the machine was activated. Six CFUs were isolated during machine activation and processing of clean dummy mail. These data indicate that an employee working near this machine might inhale approximately 30 B. anthracis-containing particles during an 8-h work shift. What risk this may have represented to postal workers is not known, but this estimate is approximately 20-fold less than a previous estimate of sub-5 micro m B. anthracis-containing particles routinely inhaled by asymptomatic, unvaccinated workers in a goat-hair mill.
Dull
Peter M
PM
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. pdull@emory.wdu
Wilson
Kathy E
KE
Kournikakis
Bill
B
Whitney
Ellen A S
EA
Boulet
Camille A
CA
Ho
Jim Y W
JY
Ogston
Jim
J
Spence
Mel R
MR
McKenzie
Megan M
MM
Phelan
Maureen A
MA
Popovic
Tanja
T
Ashford
David
D
D000336:Aerosols; D000391:Air Microbiology; D000881:Anthrax / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D023482:Bioterrorism; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011177:Postal Service; D012307:Risk Factors; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017132:Workplace
D000336:Aerosols