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Decontamination Studies Related to Operation of Vehicles in an Area Contaminated with a Biological Agent
Citation:
Richter, W., L. Oudejans, W. Calfee, L. Mickelsen, S. Lee, M. Sunderman, K. Hofacre, AND P. Keys. Decontamination Studies Related to Operation of Vehicles in an Area Contaminated with a Biological Agent. US EPA International Decontamination Research and Development Conference, Norfolk,VA, November 19 - 21, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Following a wide area biological contamination event, many emergency or personal vehicles may become contaminated through direct event exposure or secondary exposure from cross-contamination. This would lead to many logistical challenges, including decontamination of large numbers of contaminated vehicles. EPA has developed a low-tech method of generating low concentration vapor phase hydrogen peroxide which offers benefits of rapid deployment and scalability.
Description:
This presentation provides the results of the application of this low-tech approach against Bacillus atrophaeus spores (a B. anthracis surrogate) within the interior of a mid-sized sedan. The results of this research will inform the EPA response community as well as other Federal, State, Tribal and Local agencies on the means to decontaminate the interior of vehicles that were contaminated with biological spores. It will be presented at the US EPA Decontamination R&D Conference