Feasibility of a Bioaerosol Sampling Network to Measure Resuspended Spores
Citation:
Thornburg, J., P. Mobley, J. Kim, P. Doraiswamy, C. Murata, S. Lee, J. Archer, W. Calfee, T. Boe, AND L. Mickelsen. Feasibility of a Bioaerosol Sampling Network to Measure Resuspended Spores. 2019 EPA Decontamination Conference, Norfolk,VA, November 19 - 21, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation for 2019 EPA Decontamination Conference addressing bioaerosol sampling as a feasible option for an anthrax contaminated wide-area outdoor site. Additional future work will determine how bioaerosol sampling fits into the overall wide area decontamination and recovery strategy.
Description:
This research assessed in silico the feasibility of a bioaerosol sampling network to monitor Bacillus anthracis spore concentrations during the remediation phase following a large-scale biological contamination incident. We modeled the performance and cost of four air sampling strategies over a 36 km2 area of New York City, NY, and Denver, CO, to detect the resuspension (e.g., reaerosolization) of spores from contaminated urban surfaces in cities with different topography and meteorology. A knowledge gap identified was a quantitative understanding of how the resuspension fraction changes over time from surface loading depletion and changes in spore adhesion. Additional future work will determine how bioaerosol sampling fits into the overall wide area decontamination and recovery strategy.