Laboratory-Scale Study in Determining the Decontamination Standards for Personnel Protective Equipment Used by Homeland Defense Personnel: Evaluation of Commercial Off-the-Shelf Technologies for Decontamination of Personnel Protective Equipment-Relevant

摘要

In 2001, dissemination of letters tainted with anthrax-causing spores through USPS led to a limited number of deaths and contamination of several hundred thousand cubic feet of surface space within government and commercial buildings. In the context of homeland security, these and other cases involving ricin toxin demonstrated the urgent need to develop countermeasures for cleaning up complex surfaces relevant to personnel protective equipment (PPE). Four relevant surface materials (polycarbonate, steel, Tyvek, and butyl rubber) were intentionally contaminated with either 10E7 spores of avirulent Delta Sterne Bacillus anthracis or 50 micrograms ricin protein toxin. Two disinfection technologies, pH-adjusted dilute Clorox bleach and dilute Peridox(trademark), were tested for their ability to decontaminate within 15 min of contact time. The results from this study showed that >6 log kill of spores and near-complete decontamination of ricin toxin were observed within 15 min treatment with dilute Clorox. Dilute Peridox resulted in complete spore kill, but was not effective in the decontamination of ricin protein even after 30 min treatment. Based on the results of this lab-scale study, recommendations for decontamination standards for PPE used by first responders will be discussed.