Anthrax: the challenges for decontamination

Anthrax remains endemic in many parts of the world with regular infections of livestock presenting a consequent risk to public health. In the United Kingdom anthrax has diminished as a significant threat to human health with only sporadic outbreaks in farm animals derived from ingestion of spores from soil at sites associated with previous outbreaks and the burial of carcasses. Occupationally-derived anthrax, associated with industries involved in the processing of animal products, has historically had an impact on the occurrence of outbreaks of infection. The introduction, in 1965, of vaccination for workers in high-risk occupations contributed significantly to the eradication of the disease from the UK. During 2001 the deliberate release of anthrax spores in the USA, disseminated through the postal system, resulted in the infection of 22 people, five of which resulted in death through inhalational anthrax. At that time anthrax was unheard of in many clinical practices and there was a lack of training and preparedness to handle such incidents; the emergency resulted in medical and public health personnel across the world having a significantly raised awareness of both the organism and the clinical symptoms of infection, and the new threat posed by bioterrorism. In the USA, the immediate public health emergency was followed by the legacy of contaminated buildings and facilities. There had been little previous systematic study of the issues surrounding sampling and decontamination of areas contaminated with Bacillus anthracis. The decontamination of large complex buildings and the equipment they contained required the urgent development and validation of new procedures for both sampling and decontamination. (c) 2006 Society of Chemical Industry.