An automated front-end monitor for anthrax surveillance systems based on the rapid detection of airborne endospores
✍ Scribed by Pun To Yung; Elizabeth D. Lester; Greg Bearman; Adrian Ponce
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 238 KB
- Volume
- 98
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0006-3592
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
A fully automated anthrax smoke detector (ASD) has been developed and tested. The ASD is intended to serve as a cost effective front‐end monitor for anthrax surveillance systems. The principle of operation is based on measuring airborne endospore concentrations, where a sharp concentration increase signals an anthrax attack. The ASD features an air sampler, a thermal lysis unit, a syringe pump, a time‐gated spectrometer, and endospore detection chemistry comprised of dipicolinic acid (DPA)‐triggered terbium ion (Tb^3+^) luminescence. Anthrax attacks were simulated using aerosolized Bacillus atrophaeus spores in fumed silica, and corresponding Tb‐DPA intensities were monitored as a function of time and correlated to the number of airborne endospores collected. A concentration dependence of 10^2^–10^6^ spores/mg of fumed silica yielded a dynamic range of 4 orders of magnitude and a limit of detection of 16 spores/L when 250 L of air were sampled. Simulated attacks were detected in less than 15 min. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007; 98: 864–871. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.