Abstract |
If a Bacillus anthracis incident occurs in the United States or within its territories, the public health and environmental communities must work collaboratively during the response to most effectively address the risks posed by the incident. The ultimate goal is to effectively and efficiently remediate the environment so that the local or state public health officials or private building owners can make follow-on decisions. The remediation phase of a response includes characterization, decontamination, and clearance, as defined in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) draft document, Planning Guidance for Recovery Following Biological Incidents. To that end, a group of experts from Center for Disease Control (CDC) and EPA met to discuss the current state-of-the-science on risk assessment, sampling strategies, decontamination technologies, and operational logistics as it relates to the development of a clearance strategy. This document was developed as a result of this meeting and is a living document that will be updated as the state-of-the-science changes and is complementary to the broader overarching OSTP document previously mentioned. |