Characterizing Bacillus globigii as a Bacillus anthracis surrogate for wastewater treatment studies and bioaerosol emissions
Citation:
Durden, L., K. Eckhoff, A. Burdsall, S. Youn, C. Andujar-Gonzalez, L. Abu-Niaaj, M. Magnuson, AND W. Harper. Characterizing Bacillus globigii as a Bacillus anthracis surrogate for wastewater treatment studies and bioaerosol emissions. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, Uk, 9(12):3458-3466, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ew00524k
Impact/Purpose:
To maintain continuity of wastewater services to communities, water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) and the wastewater industry are interested in preparing for scenarios that involve the intentional or inadvertent introduction of high consequence biocontaminants (HCBs) into the wastewater collection and treatment system. Bacillus anthracis (BA) is one of the most likely HCBs associated with an intentional introduction such as an attack. Because of logistical and safety challenges associated with HCBs, finding suitable surrogates with which to perform response and recovery research and/or to develop appropriate guidelines will help nearby WRRFs prepare for handling such wastewater, one of many important aspects of response and recovery. This study characterized Bacillus globigii (BG) as a Bacillus anthracis Sterne (BAS) surrogate for wastewater treatment-related studies of UV inactivation, adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC), and bioaerosol emission. These results can be used to understand the ability of BAS to act as a surrogate for BA Ames because of its genetic and morphological similarities with BAS.
Description:
This study characterized Bacillus globigii (BG) as a Bacillus anthracis Sterne (BAS) surrogate for wastewater treatment-related studies of UV inactivation, adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC), and bioaerosol emission. The inactivation of BG was faster than that of BAS in DI water (pseudo first-order rate constants of 0.065 and 0.016 min−1 respectively) and in PBS solution (0.030 and 0.005 min−1 respectively). BG was also removed more quickly than BAS by PAC adsorption in DI (0.07 and 0.05 min−1 respectively) and in PBS (0.09 and 0.04 min−1 respectively). In DI, BG aggregated more (P < 0.05) than BAS when the pH was 7 or greater but there were no statistically significant differences in NaCl solution. Spore aggregation was also studied with extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (XDLVO) models. Less than 1% of all spores were released as bioaerosols, and there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in emission between BG and BAS. To the author's knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that BG is a suitable surrogate for BAS for bioaerosol emissions, but a poor surrogate for both UV inactivation and PAC adsorption. These results can be used to understand the ability of BAS to act as a surrogate for BA Ames because of its genetic and morphological similarities with BAS.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Characterizing Bacillus globigii as a Bacillus anthracis surrogate for wastewater treatment studies and bioaerosol emissions