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Optimizing the Recovery of Surrogates for Bacterial Bioterrorism Agents from Ventilation Filters
Author(s) -
Kim Seung Won,
Raynor Peter C.,
Kuehn Thomas H.,
Goyal Sagar M.,
Ramakrishnan M. A.,
Anantharaman Senthilvelan,
Farnsworth James E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.200700182
Subject(s) - bacteria , spore , hvac , elution , human decontamination , chromatography , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , air conditioning , biology , waste management , engineering , genetics , physics , thermodynamics
Heating, ventilating, and air‐conditioning (HVAC) filters have the potential to serve as long‐term integrated samplers for biological particles that may be released intentionally or unintentionally into a public building. Methods for eluting bacteria that are surrogates for potential bioterrorism agents from HVAC filters were tested for their ability to recover as high a percentage of culturable bacteria as possible. A solution of 0.02% Tween‐80 in water was an effective eluent for Bacillus globigii (BG) spores whereas phosphate‐buffered saline was the most effective eluent for vegetative bacteria. Hand shaking was a more effective agitation method for high recovery rates than vortexing or mechanical shaking. The results indicate that BG spores can be eluted successfully while maintaining essentially 100% culturability. The recovery of the vegetative bacteria Mannheimia haemolytica and Yersinia ruckeri was 80% or higher under optimal conditions. The culturability of the vegetative bacteria eluted from HVAC filters declined substantially within as little as 2 h after the bacteria were loaded onto the filter. The culturability of the BG spores eluted from filters exhibited an exponential decay subsequent to loading with a half‐life of 8–9 days.