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Opsono-Adherence Assay to Evaluate Functional Antibodies in Vaccine Development Against Bacillus anthracis and Other Encapsulated Pathogens
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Setting risk-informed environmental standards for Bacillus anthracis spores.

Tao Hong1, Patrick L Gurian, Nicholas F Dudley Ward

  • 1Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis
|July 15, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Assessing human health risks from Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) spores requires linking environmental concentrations to exposure. Documenting compliance with low risk levels for respirable spores presents significant challenges.

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Safety Precautions and Operating Procedures in an (A)BSL-4 Laboratory: 3. Aerobiology

Published on: October 3, 2016

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Science
  • Microbiology
  • Risk Assessment

Background:

  • Human health risks from biological agents are often linked to aerosol exposures.
  • Airborne concentrations of biological agents decline rapidly post-release, necessitating inference from other environmental media.
  • Bacillus anthracis (B. anthracis) spores pose a significant biological threat, requiring robust risk assessment strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present an approach for linking environmental concentrations of B. anthracis spores to human health risks.
  • To calculate risk-informed concentration standards for retrospective and prospective risk mitigation.
  • To evaluate the feasibility of environmental sampling for compliance with risk targets.

Main Methods:

  • Linking B. anthracis spore concentrations in environmental media (walls, floors, filters) and nasal passages to human health risk.
  • Developing a methodology to infer past or future aerosol exposures from environmental samples.
  • Calculating example risk-informed concentration standards for mitigation strategies.

Main Results:

  • The proposed approach allows for the calculation of risk-informed concentration standards for B. anthracis.
  • Documenting compliance with risk levels of 10(-4) to 10(-6) is challenging for small, respirable spore particles.
  • Environmental sampling may be more promising for less stringent risk targets and larger, less hazardous spore particles.

Conclusions:

  • The developed approach provides a framework for risk assessment of B. anthracis spore exposure.
  • Significant uncertainties exist in the calculated risk-informed concentration standards.
  • Environmental sampling strategies need to consider particle size and risk targets for effective B. anthracis risk management.