AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Assessing the Biological Threat Posed by Suicide Bombers
Jerry Cabalo, KATELYNN STAFFORD, Excet, Inc/Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
Abstract Number: 79 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract In order to assess the biological threat posed by suicide bombers, we exploded ballistic gelatin blocks using Bacillus atrophaeus (BG) spores as an organism simulant in increasing scaled size in three tests. The results of our test shows that 1) organisms can survive the blast, and 2) be widely dispersed in both aerosol and visible remains of the bomber. Our results show an aerosol threat. We detected living organisms in large pieces of gel as well as on collection tiles without ANY visible contamination. Significant aerosol concentrations of ballistic gelatin were detected by a UV-fluorescence based particle counter.