TY - JOUR AU - Teshale, Eyasu H. AU - Painter, John AU - Burr, Gregory A. AU - Mead, Paul AU - Wright, Scott V. AU - Cseh, Larry F. AU - Zabrocki, Ronald AU - Collins, Rick AU - Kelley, Kathy A. AU - Hadler, James L. AU - Swerdlow, David L. T1 - Environmental Sampling for Spores of Bacillus anthracis T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 10 SP - 1083 SN - 1080-6059 AB - On November 11, 2001, following the bioterrorism-related anthrax attacks, the U.S. Postal Service collected samples at the Southern Connecticut Processing and Distribution Center; all samples were negative for Bacillus anthracis. After a patient in Connecticut died from inhalational anthrax on November 19, the center was sampled again on November 21 and 25 by using dry and wet swabs. All samples were again negative for B. anthracis. On November 28, guided by information from epidemiologic investigation, we sampled the site extensively with wet wipes and surface vacuum sock samples (using HEPA vacuum). Of 212 samples, 6 (3%) were positive, including one from a highly contaminated sorter. Subsequently B. anthracis was also detected in mail-sorting bins used for the patient’s carrier route. These results suggest cross-contaminated mail as a possible source of anthrax for the inhalational anthrax patient in Connecticut. In future such investigations, extensive sampling guided by epidemiologic data is imperative. KW - Bacillus anthracis KW - anthrax KW - environmental sampling KW - postal facility KW - surface sampling KW - HEPA vacuum sock KW - swabs KW - wipes KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid0810.020398 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/10/02-0398_article ER - End of Reference