title: Hot, humid air decontamination of a C-130 aircraft contaminated with spores of two acrystalliferous Bacillus thuringiensis strains, surrogates for Bacillus anthracis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop test methods and evaluate survival of Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki cry(-) HD-1 and B. thuringiensis Al Hakam spores after exposure to hot, humid air inside of a C-130 aircraft.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bacillus thuringiensis spores were either pre-inoculated on 1 × 2 or 2 × 2 cm substrates or aerosolized inside the cargo hold of a C-130 and allowed to dry. Dirty, complex surfaces (10 × 10 cm) swabbed after spore dispersal showed a deposition of 8-10 log10 m(-2) through the entire cargo hold. After hot, humid air decontamination at 75-80°C, 70-90% relative humidity for 7 days, 87 of 98 test swabs covering 0·98 m(2) , showed complete spore inactivation. There was a total of 1·67 log10 live CFU detected in 11 of the test swabs. Spore inactivation in the 98 test swabs was measured at 7·06 log10 m(-2) .
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laboratory test methods for hot, humid air decontamination were scaled for a large-scale aircraft field test. The C-130 field test demonstrated that hot, humid air can be successfully used to decontaminate an aircraft.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transition of a new technology from research and development to acquisition at a Technology Readiness Level 7 is unprecedented.
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Buhr
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bensman
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Z A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Minter
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Kennihan
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bohmke
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Borgers-Klonkowski
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Osborn
authors.affiliation: Naval Surface Warfare Center-Dahlgren Division, CBR Concepts and Experimentation Branch (Z21), Dahlgren, VA, USA.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Avila
authors.affiliation: METSS Corporation, Westerville, OH, USA.
authors.forename: A M G
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Theys
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D003666:Decontamination / Q000379:methods*; D058872:Epidemics / Q000517:prevention & control; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006813:Humidity; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000254:growth & development
keywords: Bacillus; aircraft; decontamination; hot humid air; spore; surrogate