I know a co-author very well. Thought some of you might find this interesting.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2006, p. 7687-7693, Vol. 72, No. 12
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.02563-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Destruction of Spores on Building Decontamination Residue in a Commercial Autoclave
P. Lemieux,1* R. Sieber,2 A. Osborne,2 and A. Woodard3

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Homeland Security Research Center, 109 T. W. Alexander Dr. E343-06, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711,1 Eastern Research Group, Inc., 14555 Avion Parkway, Suite 200, Chantilly, Virginia 20151-1102,2 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, Albany, New York 12233-72583

Received 31 October 2005/ Accepted 17 September 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a commercial autoclave for treating simulated building decontamination residue (BDR). The BDR was intended to simulate porous materials removed from a building deliberately contaminated with biological agents such as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) in a terrorist attack. The purpose of the tests was to assess whether the standard operating procedure for a commercial autoclave provided sufficiently robust conditions to adequately destroy bacterial spores bound to the BDR. In this study we investigated the effects of several variables related to autoclaving BDR, including time, temperature, pressure, item type, moisture content, packing density, packing orientation, autoclave bag integrity, and autoclave process sequence. The test team created simulated BDR from wallboard, ceiling tiles, carpet, and upholstered furniture, and embedded in the BDR were Geobacillus stearothermophilus biological indicator (BI) strips containing 106 spores and thermocouples to obtain time and temperature profile data associated with each BI strip. The results indicated that a single standard autoclave cycle did not effectively decontaminate the BDR. Autoclave cycles consisting of 120 min at 31.5 lb/in2 and 275°F and 75 min at 45 lb/in2 and 292°F effectively decontaminated the BDR material. Two sequential standard autoclave cycles consisting of 40 min at 31.5 lb/in2 and 275°F proved to be particularly effective, probably because the second cycle’s evacuation step pulled the condensed water out of the pores of the materials, allowing better steam penetration. The results also indicated that the packing density and material type of the BDR in the autoclave could have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the decontamination process.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Homeland Security Research Center, 109 T. W. Alexander Dr. E343-06, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. Phone: (919) 541-0962. Fax: (919) 541-0496. E-mail: [email protected] .

Published ahead of print on 29 September 2006.