Mail Handling in the age of Bioterrorism

Table of Contents

Introduction

This page contains extensive information on safe mail handling techniques for individuals, small businesses, corporations, and other organizations as well as information on protecting against other forms of bioterrorism. While it started out with information on protecting against anthrax in the mail, this page now has information on many other biological agents, who has them, how they get them, when they have used them in the past, when and where they are likely to use them in the future, and how to protect yourself against a variety of attacks.

This page advocates a combination of relying on government emergency personel and self reliance. When appropriate emergency personel are availible, they should know more about handling such emergencies than you will after reading these pages. But emergency personel will not always be availible when you need them. You may receive an attack (or hoax) at the same time that many others are receiving real attacks, decoy attacks, or hoaxes. Or you may live or work in an area where adequately trained emergency personel do not exist nearby. Something like 40% of all public health departments did not even have touch tone phones, let alone internet access. This page also describes some improvised equipment. This equipment is not likely to afford the same protection as expensive properly designed and manufactured equipment. In some cases, it could just provide a false sense of security. But in many cases where budgets are limited but you have some fabrication skill and common sense, improvised equipment could be much better than no equpment. I wouldn't, for example, do regular biological research on dangerous agents in an improvised BSC (Biological Safety Cabinet) but opening mail in such a cabinet is much safer than doing so without any special equipment (although proper use of an ordinary pressure cooker would be more effective protection for home or SOHO use).

A single letter can easily contain a million times the lethal dose of anthrax. The outside of an envelope processed in a contaminated mail facility could also easily have more than a lethal dose worth of anthrax but the chances of enough enough anthrax making it into your lungs or through the skin are much lower. If you handle a steady stream of mail which has been processed on contaminated machines at the post office.

I started this page on 2001-10-24, after postal workers were known to be infected but before the US government admitted that mail delivered to homes may contain trace amounts of anthrax, to help fill the information vacuum about handling mail which may be contaminated with Anthrax. This page contains information on handling mail at home or at work.

The initial anthrax bioterrorism attack seems to be over but exercising due dillegence is still called for. We may be experiencing a temporary reprieve while the perpetrators lay low to evade capture. There may be copy cat incidents. There continue to be many hoaxes.

The initial attacks were apparently intended to incite fear, not kill. Otherwise, they would not have had warnings that the recipient had been exposed and needed to take antibiotics immediately. These may have been a warning shot fired across our bow; such warning shots are often followed with real shots unless you comply with the warning. These attacks could even have been from "friendly" sources who believe that we are likely to suffer from real attacks in the future and are not prepared. Nonetheless, 5 people have died, there have been 17 confirmed and 5 suspected cases of anthrax, and 32,000 people have had to take antibiotics, and mail delivery has been delayed by over a month. A real attack could come at any time and be much more severe.

Dried Anthrax spores on paper can survive for 41 years. Buried spores have survived for centuries.

This page focuses on Anthrax but also has some information on dozens of other biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. There are three forms of anthrax exposure: inhaled, skin, and gastro intestinal. This page will primarily be concerned with the inhaled form. Hopefully, you always wash your hands between handling mail and eating and use separate areas for the handling of mail and preparing and consuming food and beverages. Attacks on the food supply are outside the scope of this document. Skin anthrax usually produces black lessions before it is too late to take antibiotics. The precautions described here should, however, provide protection against all three forms of exposure.

ter·ror·ism (tr-rzm)
n.
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

Keep a level head

You need to exercise common sense and good judgement to protect yourself and not be a threat to others. In a crisis such as this, other peoples civil rights can easily be violated. Don't go accusing anyone who looks the least bit different from you who wanders onto your premises, for example, of being a terrorist. Don't yell ANTHRAX!!! at the top of your lungs when someone sends you a sample packet of seeds.

Many people have survived biological attacks. Incidents involving the release of biological agents in the last few decades have only involved a handful of fatalities, maxium, per incident. Past events may not be indicative of future events.

Civil Rights

Crises such as these pose a considerable threat to civil rights. A population that has excercised gross negligence in preparing for security threats will tend to panic and violate the civil rights of others. To the idiot who leaves his keys in the ignition, anyone who looks a bit different and comes near his vehicle may be regarded as a potential car thief.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"'Necessity' is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
-William Pitt, British Member of Parliament, 1783

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
-Julius Caesar

• Airport screening in this country has been a joke.
  Now, people run the risk of having their bags searched, and their medications, sex toys, negligations, and other private posessions exposed, at airline ticket counters in full view of friends, family members, bosses and coworkers.
• Facility security is totally lacking in many buildings.
  As a result, anyone who wanders into the lobby of a building for legitimate reasons who isn't a conservatively dressed WASP with short hair can face the third degree.
• Treatment of suspects in the current crisis poses considerable threat to civil liberties. Inocent until proven guilty, unless the crime is a heinous one in which case it is reversed.

Updates

• 2002-05-06: 15 Pipe bombs were found in mailboxes in Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois along with anti-government messages. Six people were injured. The bombs were apparently deposited directly in mailboxes friday and saturday.
• 2002-??-??: It was reported that of over a thousand aliens detained in this country, only two (the shoebomber and the 20th hijacker) have been charged with terrorism. Back in december, however, 93 were charged with various crimes.
• 2002-03-01: UK: 16 toxic packages were sent to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other british leaders. Apparently the contained a caustic substance disguised as eucalyptus oil.
• 2002-03-01: US/Virginia/Charlottesville: Bomb threat at UVA's cabel Hall
• 2002-02-13: I have run a computer simulation of an aerosolized liquid anthrax attack on a big box store (Wal*Mart or equivalent). Occupants receive a lethal exposure in an average of eight minutes.
• 2002-02-12: NOVA special on Bioterror Airs
  This closely follows the information in the book Germs. This has video footage of many of the events, people, facilities, equipment, and pathogens mentioned in the book. Availible for purchase on VHS, this is the most readily availible source of hard to find pictures and footage of this stuff.
• 2002-01-24: A poll indicated that 1/3 of Americans expect a terrorist attack at the winter olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, US. Twice as many women felt this way as men, which would give approximately 44% of females and 22% of males felt a terrorist attack was likely.
• PC Users Enlisted to Find Anthrax Cure . This is one of those donate your spare CPU cycles for distributed super-computing deals, similar to those used to crack cryptographic contests. Unfortunately, there are security and privacy concerns for any such effort and one of the partners in this effort is Microsoft, a company known for its total incompetance where security is concerned and its complete and utter disregard for your privacy rights.
• 2002-01-22: Hart senate office building reopens after 3 months and a $13.5 million dollar cleanup operation. Scientists will not say that the building is spore free.
• 2002-01-18: Airport bag screening supposedly begins. No, they won't be scanning all bags for explosives for another year. They will be doing bag matching but there are two problems. Bag matching assumes the terrorist is not willing to die; yet 19 terrorists committed suicide attacks in one day (2001-09-11). They only bag match on your first flight, not on connecting flights; all a non-suicide terrorist needs to do is set the bomb to go off during the second flight and not board the second flight. Or put the bomb in someone elses bag.
• 2002-01-16: I open a newly purchased jug of salsa only to find that I was not the first person to have done so. The tamper seal was broken in a manner suggesting it was the result of a human action rather than an improper seal in the first place. It was reported to the FDA as a possible biological product tampering. Although they do not normally do product sample testing in such instances, they have followed up with me, the store (which checked product on the shelves), and the manufacturer. It is probably nothing but it does make me think, even more so than I already have, about the potential vulnerability of the food supply.
• 2002-01-16: A pilot allegedly threatened to crash his small plane into the tallest building in the Portland, Oregon, US area.
• 2002-01-15: McDonalds closes two stores in Sydney, Australia after receiving white powder in mail.
• 2002-01-11: The government of Singapore revealed that 15 suspects arrested in December were affiliated with Al-Qaida and engaged in a plot to "blow up western embassies, U.S. Naval Vessels, a shuttle bus carrying American soldiers, and the offices of U.S. companies." Some of the targets were to be attacked using boxes containing bombs on bicycles. Embassies to be attacked included the US, Australia, and Israel.
• 2002-01-08: A man strikes a flight attendant with a shoe, saying that everybody on the plane was going to hell. His carry on baggage contains knives, flares, and lighter fluid.
• 2002-01-06: A american teenager (who supported bin laden) flies a small Cesna 172R plane into a skyscraper in tampa.
• 2002-01-04: The second Daschle anthrax letter was just a hoax (talcum powder).
• 2002-01-04: Looks like another postage rate hike is coming.
• 2002-01-03: U.S. Clamps Down on Anthrax 'Cure' Web Sites
• 2002-01-02: A natural outbreak of Ebola has killed 22 in Central Africa.
• 2001-12-26: Federal authorities allege that the extremist, anti-semite, mosly black muslim Muslims of America 44.5 acre "Red House" trailer park compound, housing about 20 families near Appomattox, VA, US is a terrorist cell with loose ties to al-Fugra. The al-Fugra group, which "seeks to purify Islam through violence", was charged with firebombing a Hare Krishna temple in 1984 and murdering a Muslim cleric in 1990 and is suspected in 17 bombings and 12 murders. Two members of Muslims of America were arrested earlier on weapons charges and group allegedly bought another 100-acre compound with money obtained from the state through false workers compensation claims. The main street was named after Shayky Mubarik Ali Gilani, the founder of al-Fuqra. This compound is located about 70 miles from Charlottesville.
• 2001-12-22: The body of scientist Dr. Don Wileywas found after he had been missing for a month. Thing is, he worked with deadly viruses such as Ebola.
• 2001-12-29: More anthrax found in New York at the Morgan processing center. This machine had tested postive in october but had tested negative since then until a test conducted on Dec 23 came back possitive. We don't get the news until at least 6 days after the test and we don't know how long it has been since that machine processed more anthrax tainted mail. But it looks like someone had a little christmas present for us.
• 2001-12-22: Richard Reid (probably an assumed name) tried unsuccessfully to ignite plastic explosives in his shoe on an AA flight from Paris to Miammi but was subdued.
• 2001-12-17: The US military is not allowing Operation Dear Abby and Any Service Member letters to be sent to troups because of the danger of anthrax. Instead, they are setting up email. Operation Dear Abby has allowed people to send messages to non-specific soldiers for 17 years. The military was concerned that the program allows mail to be introduced with too much anonymity (gee, sounds like USPS).
• 2001-11-24: New Bedford High School Massacre Plot involving guns and explosives, was averted in New Bedford, Mass. Five students were arrested for a plot to set off explosives at the school and shoot students and faculty as they fled.
• 2001-10-09: Civil rights alert: Less than a month after the September 11th attacks, probably trying to exploit a political environment favorable to law enforcement and a media and public preoccupied with other threats, the DEA bans edible hemp products despite the fact that HEMP doesn't get you high, is one of the few concentrated vegetable sources of Omega-3 lipids deficient in American diets, and contains such negligable amounts of THC that consumption of large amounts on a daily basis wouldn't cause you to flunk a drug test.
• Censorship Alert: On september 17th, in the wake of the WTC bombing, Clear Channel communications, which controls 10% of the nations radio stations, banned about 150 songs with "questionable" lyrics. Banned songs include "Highway to Hell", "Rock the Casbah", "Great Balls of Fire", "Imagine", "Only the Good Die Young", "On Broadway", "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". "Hit me with Your Best Shot". "Blowin' In The Wind", "Hey Joe", "American Pie", "Leaving on a Jet Plane", "Ruby Tuesday", "Burning Down The House", "Jump", and even the most requested song in rock history : "Stairway to Heaven".

Decontamination Methods

Steam Autoclaving

Since I have an autoclave, I have been experimenting with the effects of autoclaving on various types of mail, and have autoclaved all mail which I have received during the several months since the anthrax attacks begain.

The image above shows an envelope (my phone bill, which includes charges for the calls I made on Sept 11th) which has been sterilized using a steam autoclave. The small rectangle over the barcode is the shrunken remains of the plastic window. If you remove the plastic, the bar code may actually still be readable. This bill was the worst damaged piece of paper mail I received in the mail, during the first month of autoclaving, due to the large black areas of low temperature toner. A page from that bill shows the damage (certain portions have been blured to obscure confidential information).

Steam Autoclaving in a spore tested autoclave will inactivate anthrax spores. Typicall paper mail survives this process. There may be the ocassional water spot or in some cases laser toner sticks two pages together but they can be separated and the mail is still readable. Not all mail will survive this process, however. Some articles of mail that might be vulnerable are:

• Not practical for parcels, even if you have equipment large enough, since parcels are likely to contain many things which can be damaged.
• Plastic window envelopes. The plastic window often melts and shrinks to a small rigid piece of plastic less than 1 inch by 1/2 inch. The plastic does not stick to the mail. Cellophane ok? There is some toner transfer to the plastic and sometimes a little smearing of the toner in interesting ways as the plastic shrinks and often there is a water spot where the window was but so far the text behind the window has always been readable. One envelope that had a huge (almost full size) window only shrank partway before it melted into the paper.
• Credit cards (plastic, magstripe, holograms)
  Some warpage. hologram damaged but still visable. Magstripe probably erased. Embossed card number no longer embossed but still readable.
• Thermal Address Labels (DYMO/Costar, Seiko, Casio, etc.)
  Will turn black and be unreadable. Photocoping or scanning the envelope prior to autoclaving will preserve any lost information, such as the name of the recipient within your organization or the name of the alleged sender. All of that information should also appear on the first page of the correspondence.
• Plastic Address Labels
  I have encountered one plastic return address label on incoming mail. It shrank to a miniscule size but was still somewhat legible. I would not recommend plastic labels for the To: address.
• Smart Cards
  The steam may damge the integrate circuit, encapsulation compound, and/or the plastic card. The moisture may be more of a problem than the heat.
• Photo ID cards
• Plastic membership cards
  Plastic overcoating shrank and delaminated. Some warpage occurred.
• Return envelopes
  will either be glued shut or the glue will lose its adhesive properties.
• Refrigerator Magnets?
• CD-ROM's
  Well, one CD-R held up better than I expected but was still damaged. The disk was slightly warped and the printed surface was readable from the bottom side of the disk where it wasn't before suggesting that the reflective surface which holds the data had been damaged. It is likely that all data was destroyed.
• Business card CD-ROM's
• Thermal fax paper
  As expected, this becomes completely unreadable.
• Ink jet print bleeds some but is still readable
• Laser toner was originally melted onto the paper. It may melt slightly and cause pages to stick together with some transfer remaining after pages are pulled apart (similar to the way pages stick to the inside cover of vinyl binders). Pages are still readable. Large areas with a black background may cause some tearing
• Glossy color brochures
  unharmed
• Checks
  Unharmed. Note: Panasonic used to manufacture an expensive Pocket Check Writing system that might have used thermal checks. It was an expensive gadget and has been discontinued.
• Barcodes
  usually unharmed. May have some smudges, bleading, or toner transfer from facing pages.
• Hot laminated paper cards
  Survive ok. Some bubbling in the lamination around the edges of the card.
• Thermal bound reports
  It is expected that autoclaving will soften the adhesive in the binding but this is not likely to have ill effects if the document is not under stress at the time.
• Staples
  staples are likely to leave small rust stains on the document.
• Diamonds
  should not be damaged
• Seeds
  will be killed.
• Catalogs, stapled.
  unharmed
• Catalog, non-glossy color newspaper style.
  Unharmed
• Tyvek
  Tyvek not only survives autoclaving at normal temperature/pressure settings but is the prefered covering for surgical instrument packs. Note that tyvek is porous to steam but not to
• Photographs
  ?

For a large mailroom, a large Autoclave of the sort used for decontaminating medical waste in hospitals would be ideal but demand is likely to exceed supply at this time. Here are some alternatives:

• Food service pressure cooker.
  Some of these are quite huge. Operate at 15lbs, make sure all of the air is vented. Purchase a spore test kit or use a third party spore testing service to monitor correct operation.
• Home pressure cooker
  A home presure cooker will work as well as a medical device provided you are very careful in the operation of the device. Use at 15lbs. Use a vegetable steamer basket inside. Be sure to vent the air completely before starting the timer or it will not be effective. Do not allow plastic windows to touch the side walls. Be sure not to run out of water and watch to make sure that you maintain steam pressure the entire processing time.

The more mail, and the less steam can circulate around it, the longer the time which will be needed to autoclave it. Place spore test vials inside an envelope in the middle of a batch of mail to test for effectiveness.

Mail to be autoclaved should be packaged in a paper or cloth bag, not plastic. If plastic is used, you will need to leave one end open and increase autoclaving time and the bag may melt onto the mail.

Before autoclaving you should check for the presence of credit cards; unfortunately, this is likely to involve squeezing and bending the envelope which can release spores and should be done in a glove box.

You may want to digitally photograph the to and from addresses and postmark on each envelop before autoclaving so you can contact the correspondant in the event the mail is distroyed when autocloving.

Autoclaving destroys all common biowarfare agents. The only infectious agent I am aware of which is not destroyed by autoclaving is bovine spongiform encephilopathy (mad cow disease) which I have been told even survives incineration. Actually, autoclaving at 25PSI for 4.5 hours will apparently inactivate BSE prions.

If the windows on some of the envelopes do not shrink completely, this is a sign of a flaw in your autoclaving proceedure, such as inadequate steam penetration to the center of mail bundles.

Pass through autoclaves exist. These have one door on each end. These can be installed through a wall. Mail from the receiving area can be placed in the autoclave by biohazard suited personel and then removed through the other area in the clean mail sorting area. Some models have interlocks to prevent the door from being opened in the less infected area unless an autoclave cycle has been completed.

Material to be autoclaved should be placed in a paper or tyvek bag or envelope or wrapped in newspaper. This will help prevent spores from being blown out of the autoclave during the venting portion of the cycle before they are sterilized.

Chemical indicator strips or tapes are used to identify if a package of items has been sterilized. These are intended to guard against confusion about which packages have and have not been processed in the autoclave, not to indicate that the autoclave is functioning properly. To verify proper operation, use a spore test vials. Some low tech substitutes for chemical strips: the plastic window on a window envelope, a piece of thermal fax paper, or labels from a thermal label printer (dymo/costar).

You can sterilize mail in an autoclave with far less damage than immersion in water because the steam does not cause the paper fibers to separate and the water evaporates when the paper is removed.

In terms of mail condition, It appears that removingmail immediatly after autoclaving is preferable to leaving it in the autoclave and opening shortly thereafter is preferable to letting it cool completely.

10:1 bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite)

Bottles of 10:1 bleach may be useful for decontaminating exterior surfaces of parcels which may have been exposed and mail handling surfaces. It can also be used for 10-15 minutes to wash the skin of individuals who have been directly exposed after showering and washing with soap and lots water.

10:1 Sodium Hypochlorite solutions are reported to inactivate anthrax. That is a ten to one dilution with water of ordinary household bleach. Chlorox Ultra bleach is stronger and should be dilluted more. Normal bleach is 5% Sodium Hypochlorite. After 10:1 dillution, it will be dilluted to 0.5% Sodium Hypochlorite. Prolonged exposure to 5% bleach is damaging to almost every material known to man including highly resistant substances such as polyethelene and stainless steel. Diluted bleach is still effective as a disinfectant but will do less damage. Do not substitute non-chlorine bleaches; some of them might be effective at appropriate concentrations for those substances others may not work at the dillutions described here or at any dillution.

Contact time is very important for any disinfectant/sterilant.

Bleach which has been sufficiently dilluted (we are talking MUCH more than 10:1 here) is not very hazardous to humans. Minute quantities of bleach are used to disinfect non-potable water.

Bleach reportedly disinfects anthrax but does not actually destroy the spores.

Bleach does not remove bodily fluid, grease, and other filth which may harbor pathogens and protect them from the bleach. It works on precleaned surfaces only. Also, the bleach will react with the organic matter consuming the availible bleach. There is a product called "Chlorox Cleanup" availible at most stores which sell household cleaners which contains 3:1 dilluted bleach and a detergent.

Soap and water

Soap and water, lots of water, can help remove anthrax. Washing with soap and water before washing with bleach can be a good idea. Note that soap residue interferes with some disinfectants. The idea here is to mechanically remove the pathogen. What happens to it when it goes down the drain? Also, beware of exposing yourself to pathogens while washing in a non-disinfecting cleaner; wear gloves and take other precautions.

Boiling

Acording to the GSA, immersion in boiling water for 30 minutes should effectively decontaminate clothing. Note that boiling is not sufficient to destroy some pathogens such as Hepatitus B virus and is not considered a valid sterilization method anymore although it might work on anthrax. Window will shrink about 50% but not completely.

All forms of Mail would likely be destroyed by this proceedure.

Sporox

7.5% Hydrogen Peroxide (not the 3% household stuff) is approved as a sterilant so it would probably kill the spores if soaked for 8 hours.

Gluteraldehyde

Overnight soak in gluteraldehyde should actually destroy the spores.

Electron Beam Irradiation

This would only be practical for the high risk organizations with deep pockets. Improperly done, it could just encourage mutations instead of killing the anthrax.

Used to irradiate food and medical instruments. Being tested by USPS. Expensive.

• Paper: turns yellow (which also probable means it becomes more brittle).
• Seeds: destroyed.
• Unprocessed film: overexposed.
• Medical/biological samples sent to lab: destroy
• CDs: undamaged
• Computer disks, video tapes: one report I have seen says they are undamaged another says they are damaged
• Gemstones: discolored
• Pharmaceuticals: may be adversely affected
• Credit Cards: mag strip erased. Smart Card chips may be damaged.
• Thermal fax paper and thermal labels: ???

Sources for this section included:

• Irradiation article .
• Effects of Electron Beam Iradiation on Nonfood Substances

chlorine dioxide gas and liquid

Is being used to de-contaminate buildings and mail.

Ethylene Oxide Gas Autoclaves

I suspect these would be effective but haven't researched the matter.

Formaldehyde

Fumigation with formaldehyde has been tried to decontaminate at least one building, not sure of the results. Formaldehyde was used to decontaminate Gruinard Island (Anthrax Island).

Sandia Labs secret formulation

Lye

5% lye is commonly used in agricultural settings to decontaminate soil.

Organic Solvents and other Harsh Chemicals

It is possible that organic solvents like acetone and other harsh chemicals could inactivate anthrax, but I have not investigated this possibility. These solvents are sometimes used in labs for disinfection/sterilization but are not approved for use as general purpose disinfectants because they may be too dangerous. Acetone will disolve xerox/laser printer toner and other inks. Harsh chemicals on the hands can not only adversly affect your hands but these adverse effects can increase your susceptibility to anthrax if you use these chemicals regularly.

Other Disinfectant Chemicals and Processes

Most of the chemical info in this table came from "Selection and Use of Disinfectants", Kenedy, Bek, and Griffin, Nebraska cooperative Extension, G00-1410-A. .

Bogus disinfection methods

Microwave

You can't control the exposure well enough. And it would take a long exposure to decontaminate the mail but it only takes a couple minutes to set the mail on fire. The microwave dries out the mail quickly in hot spots, lowering the flash point.

Personal Anecdote: once i put a potato in the microwave and set it to 6:00 minutes:seconds. Apparently, I got "60:00" or "66:00" minutes. Anyway, something like 20 minutes later when the smell of potato reminded me to check on my food, I found a flaming potatoe in the microwave. The potato continued to burn even after it was removed from the microwave until it was tossed out the door into the snow. The microwave had removed all the water from the potato, rendering it flamable.

Iron

You would probably have to iron each individual piece of the mail for an hour to have the desired effect and in the meantime, you are pressing on it and causing anthrax spores to spray out the corners.

Oven

Dry heat takes much higher temperatures and exposures than steam to decontaminate. Typical sterilization times in a device designed for dry heat sterilization is a couple hours at 350 degrees. A regular overn, or worse a toaster oven, will have radiant heat direct from the heating coils which can set the paper on fire before sterilization is acheaved.

UV light

The efficacy of UV light against anthrax is not well understood. The CDC does not recommend UV light. Sunlight does adversely affect anthrax in the exterior environment but one of the reasons germicidal UV lights are not trusted is the light may not adequately penetrate the item to be disinfected. Germicidal UV lights may work against anthrax spores in the air when used as part of a well designed filtration system. UV lights which are powerful enough to inactivate anthrax spores can also cause eye damage, sunburns, and skin cancer if they are not shielded. They can also produce ozone. Ozone can be hazardous to breath and a component of smog. Ozone can also have a disinfectant and deodorizing effect. Note that ultraviolet lights also come in different wavelengths:

• UV-A, 315-400nm, Near UV, long wave UV, "Blacklight"
  Does not disinfect. Relatively harmless. Blacklights safe. Causes delayed tanning which does not protect against sunburn). May or may not contribute to Vitamin D synthesis in humans.
• UV-B, 280-315nm, middle wave UV
  Partly filtered out of sunlight by ozone layer in upper atmosphere. Erythemal (causes redening of skin). Causes DPD tanning which provides some protection against sunburn Causes suntan, sunburn, cataracts, and skin cancer. Contributes to Vitamin D synthesis but overexposure can reduce Vitamin D.
• UV-C, 100-280nm, Far UV, short wave UV
  Completely filtered out of sunlight by ozone layer in upper atmosphere. Germicidal and/or ozone producing. Highest Germicidal efficiency around 254nm (mercury vapor lights). Very harmful to living things including humans.

Note that tanning lights can be harmfull to the skin and eyes. Newer tanning lights must meet FDA standards which makes them less dangerous. Older (circa 1980) sunlamps, such as the old GE reflector spot style output mostly UV-B light. Early tanning beds also output a lot of UVB. Some import lamps produced lots of UV-B and UV-C. Newer tanning bed lamps output mostly (95%) UVA; they take longer to tan but are less likely to cause skin cancer or eye damage.

The federal trade commision has this to say about ultraviolet lights marketed to consumers for use against anthrax:

The problem is twofold, "If the ozone is safe enough to meet FDA safety standards, it's too low to do anything. If ozone is high enough to actually kill bacteria, even then there is no proof it could kill anthrax and it's so high that it's unsafe for humans and pets."
- FTC assistant director of consumer protection Heather Hippsley

SEC Sues Compnay for stock manipulation regarding bogus anthrax claims for a product called the DeGERMinator. The stock apparently trippled after releasing press releases claiming the product would work on anthrax. The $140 . device resembles a $10 handheld battery powered compact florescent light with a UV bulb and a modified lamp cover.

Protect-Ion

HyperStealth sells a bogus looking product called protect-ion which is basically a plastic box with a small amount of chemically treated zeolite lining the bottom over which you are supposed to open your mail. Zeolite is neat stuff but I think this device will mostly offer a false sense of security. There is lots of hype on their site and references to scientific information that simply does not support their claims. They say there is a scientific study supporting that active negative air ionizaters will reduce unspecified bioaerosols by 30% to 60%. And this proves absolutely nothing about their passive negative ion generator of unspecififed strength. But when you open an envelope which releases 10,000 times the lethal dose into the air, you will be glad to know that their is a small possibility that this device might be almost as effective as a device that will reduce that to a mere 7,000 times the lethal doses. And their devices are so small that most of the falling particles are likely to miss the device entirely. It would not surprise me in the least if it was demonstrated that a wet towel or a large sheet of adhesive (upside down contact paper) might be substantially more effective. With a wet towel, some precaution would be needed to prevent breeding, of course.

Ultrasonic Sterilization

Ultrasonic cleaners generally do not sterilize. They are good for precleaning medical instruments prior to sterilization and if they are filled with a disinfecting/cleaning solution, they will greatly increase its effectiveness. Ultrasonic disruptors used in sterilization can sterilize very small areas, but they also tend to produce infectious aerosols. Ultrasonic cleaners may be used with sterilization solutions to reduce processing time and there are ultrasonic/hot water jet/detergent sharp jet washers. Generally, we are talking about wet processing as well which is not appropriate for most mail.

In the event of suspected exposure

Stay where you are, move about as little as possible and touch as few objects as possible to reduce the spread. Get someone else to do as much of this for you as possible; the fewer objects you touch the less you spread the spores.

1. Shutdown air handlers, fans, AC, in the immediate area.
2. Leave the area immediately. If spores are likely to be on your person, try to minimize the spread of those spores to other people and areas by moving to a secluded non-critical area with as little as possible to contaminate in it.
3. Seal off the area
4. Call 911 and have them notify the local FBI office as well as local police, rescue squad, etc. FBI has primary jurisdiction.
5. Notify building/company/security
6. Have someone shut down the air handling system for the entire building, if possible.
7. List all people who were in the area.

The authorities may have other instructions.

CDC Advisory: How to Handle Anthrax and other Biological Agent Threats

Keep mail in the mailroom

Paper Mail, except for checks, can be scanned in the mailroom and the originals disposed of without ever entering the rest of the organizations facility. This helps limit any contamination to the mail room, provided workers themselves do not carry the spores outside the mailroom. After scanning mail can be incinerated in a hazardous waste incinerator or autoclaved. Checks can be scanned and then sent directly to the bank. Scanning and delivering electronically also allows you to centralize mail reception for all your branch offices to a central (or outsourced) mail facility where you can afford to use proper precautions. Studies say it costs $2 to send the average business letter. Scanning incoming mail should be possible for $0.10 TO $1.00 each, depending on type, volume, etc. And you won't need to pay to store it or to electronically "microfilm" it later to save storage fees. 600,000 pages (scanned in black and white mode at 300dpi - 165K each) can fit on a single 100GB hard drive. 3500 pages on a CD-ROM. Full color brochures take up about 1MB each; thats 100,000 pages on a hard drive or 600 pages per CD-ROM. One 19" wide equipment rack full of computers and hard drives can store something like 48 million pages (B&W). A large bookshelf or two would be needed to store the CD-ROM backup copies. That is a mere corner of one room. But paper copies of the same documents would fill 2400 file cabinets. That is 400 rooms, each 10x10, full of file cabinets; or a 40,000 sq/ft building. Rent alone could be several million dollars per year - so the cost of scanning can be offset by two or three years storage cost. Low cost scanners can take a minute or two per scan. High speed scanners with auto document feeders can scan 10 pages per minute. Note, however, that the ADF would be very difficult to decontaminate without destroying it.

Don't use mail in the first place

Payments, bills, invoices, statements, purchase orders, and correspondence can all be sent/received electronically. Ask your correspondents to use electronic forms of communication. Packages can be sent by UPS or FedEx ground service - and those services have much better tracking and require identification for billing purposes making them far less appealing to terrorists. If you do allow someone to send you a package via snail mail, require them to obtain a package authorization number first.

National Strategy: Eliminate USPS entirely

Complete erradication of Snail Mail will require universal access to the internet. At first, this might not seem to be practical. But the USPS wants a $5 billion dollar bailout. That could buy, for example, 100 million $50 CIDCO mail stations or about one per US household. The USPS 1997 revenue was $58.2 billion. That means the cost of delivering mail to and from each american household is about $582. Far greater than the $100 annual cost of service for a mail station. Better yet, you can buy an internet appliance for $300 or a full computer for $600. Displaced postal workers could be put to work on electronic assembly lines to produce the needed appliances.

In order to eliminate USPS, we need responsible use of email and WWW. Absolutely no pages which are not accessible to the handicapped. Absolutely no pages which are unusable without java, javascript, VBS, or other scripts. No use of PDF when HTML will work. No email attachments or web content in proprietary formats like microsoft word or excel. Personal Certificates and digital signatures will be needed.

Incoming international paper mail could be electronically scanned at a customs facility for electronic delivery and the original incinerated. Outbound paper mail to underdeveloped countries could be printed at the same facilities.

Advantages of elimination of USPS

• Save billions of dollars every year.
• Mail is actually delivered. Redundant delivery is economically feasable. (The USPS loses 5% of all mail). If mail can't be delivered, you get a bounce notification.
• Mail is delivered immediately. No waiting for days or weeks.
• Mail is delivered to you wherever you are. You can get it when you are on a business trip or vacation. You can get it when you are camping or touring the country in an RV. You can get it when you are in other countries.
• The nations homeless can be housed in the countries decommissioned and decontaminated post offices.
• Much greater access to information for all american residents.
• No more anthrax in the mail that can't be traced.
• No more late fees for late or missed payments. No more spending hours on your bills. Faster collection of debts.
• No more trips to the post office to buy stamps only to find that counter is closed and the vending machines don't have the stamps you need. No more outdated stamps.
• No more having to dispose of bushels of junk mail.
• No more disgruntled postal workers "going postal".

Anthrax Detection

Guardian BTA

The Guardian BTA is a $15K piece of equipment which can test for anthrax. These are scarce and availible only to qualified organizations. The test strips are backordered for months. Airborne spore collectors are also availible which will collect airborne spores into a small quantity of liquid which can be tested using these test strips. The test strips are antibody based and thus are specific to Bacillus Anthacis.

Hand-held assays (Smart Tickets)

Home test kits

There will be home test kits availible soon. They don't actually test for anthrax specifically but for an entire family of bacteria and the possibility of false alarms is high. They are not very specific to Anthrax, either. These are might be mass produced smart tickets described above.

There are many bogus home anthrax detection kits being sold.

Future Technology

Newer IC based technologies are under development and are likely to be availible in the 1 to 5 year timeframe. These include bonding DNA to integrated circuits, microspectrographs, or microcrystolography techniques. Handheld devices in the $500 range may be possible using these technologies. Star Trek Tricorders, anyone?

Cyranosciences has smell digitization technology which it is testing for detection of chemical and biological weapons. It eventually expects to develop NoseChips ^tm;

Building Decontamination

The US Government has admitted that building decontamination is not likely to eliminate 100% of spores.

Here is how one building is being decontaminated.

Meanwhile, crews have begun working at night to disinfect four lawmakers' offices in the Longworth House office building where traces of anthrax were discovered, Nichols said.

The workers are using a liquid solution of chlorine dioxide, which kills bacteria, and a special vacuum cleaner designed to remove tiny particles. Paper in those offices will be treated with chlorine dioxide gas.

Source: AP News story at Yahoo

Another Story goes into more detail.

Other forms of security

Don't neglect other forms of security such as computer security and facility security. If you are letting your employees read mail with Microsoft Outlook, browse the web with java and javascript enabled, and haven't locked down your servers, you are toast.

Computer Security

• Install security related patches
• Don't use shitty software. Pretty much anything made by Microsoft is the epitome of insecure software. The more Microsoft programs you use, the more hopeless your situation.
• Disable unnecessary network services
• Do not allow unencrypted remote logins or logins from insecure machines.
• Perform regular virus scanning on all windows machines. Scan all incoming mail and downloads for viruses.
• All organizations should have a firewall
• Do not permit web browsing with java, javascript, active X, VBS, or other scripting or executable languages enabled.
• Do not make web sites that your customers, clients, and collaborators cannot browse without javascript, etc.

Facility Security

All business offices (except for very small SOHOs), all schools, and many not-for-profit orginizations should use basic facility security measures like badge readers and intercoms on exterior doors.

Where possible, you should have barriers which prevent vehicles from being driven (crashed) into the building or parked too close to the building. Yes, there are actually ways to even make these inconspicous. Access to parking garages under buildings should be controlled.

The building main exterior air intake should be HEPA filtered (see section on air treatment).

Outsourcing Mail Handling

Once an organization has reduced the amount of mail which needs to be handled by embracing more sensible means of communication, handling of remaining paper mail can be outsourced to speciallized mail handling businesses which open and scan mail in a biological/chemical agent safe environment.

See-through letter spray

Some company markets a product, to law enforcement only, which makes an envelope transparent for about 30 seconds so you can see contents. Not evaluated. However, you can get the same results by spraying the envelope with freon. Radio Shack sells a "CFC free" component cooler which does the trick. Or you can poor rubbing alcohol (which will evaporate quicker than water) on the envelope to make it translucent long enough.

Home (and SOHO) mail handling

Differing mail handling proceedures are suggested based on your risk assesment. In all cases, keep you hands away from your mouth while working with mail and turn off any fans or other devices which will disturb the air where you are handling mail unless it would suck released spores directly into a HEPA filter. Do not handle mail in the kitchen.

Low Risk

Who you are: You are not near Washington, DC or New Jersey or another place where anthrax has been discovered. You are not a high ranking government official or celebrity. You are not known widely known outside this country. You do not have an immunnosupressive illness.

Precautions: at this time, you probably face a much greater risk of dying while driving to work than from contaminated mail. There is a risk that you will be exposed to small quantities of anthrax spores on the outside of envelopes but which are not sufficient to cause infection in most cases. Remove mail from your mailbox and place it in a dishpan where you open it. Discard the envelopes. Wash your hands.

Medium Risk

Who you are: You failed one of the tests mentioned above but do not have reason to think anthrax will be mailed directly to you.

Precautions: Wear disposable gloves and a N95 dust mask when handling mail. Place mail in a plastic dishpan. Open and discard envelopes into a sealed trash recepticle (such as a 5 gallon bucket) and place mail in smaller plastic container. Discard junk mail and advertising inserts with mail. Try to handle the outside of envelopes with one hand and the contents with the other to avoid cross contamination.

High Risk

Who you are: There is a reasonable possibility that you could be selected as a non-random target. These precautions may also be appropriate for a small office that doesn't have the resources for more expensive proceedures.

Equipment Cost: Under $100.

Precautions: If you have a mailslot instead of an outside mailbox, it is time to seal the mailslot and get a mailbox. Wear a N95 mask or better. Wear a tyvek labcoat, hospital gown, smock, etc. Place disposable gloves on each hand. Place a couple layers of newspaper in your left hand so the open fold is in your palm. Place a few peices of masking tape on the edges of the newspaper. Head out to the mailbox. Place each piece of mail in the newspaper individually. Check for credit cards, CDs, and other mail which can be damaged by heat by bending each piece of mail you think might contain one very gently without squeezing (which could release spores) any more than you need to. Place any mail containing such plastic items back in mailbox to for special handling later. Letters should be wrapped in newspaper, which can be loosely closed with pre applied masking tape. Place the mail in a steamer basket which has been placed in a large pressure cooker with the appropriate amount of water. Place the lid on the pressure cooker but do not secure. Wipe the outside of the pressure cooker and your gloves with 10:1 chlorox and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Now remove your left glove pinching the outside of the glove near the wrist but not touching your skin and pull the glove off, turning it inside out (infectious side in, clean side out) in the process. Using your right hand, wad up the left glove into the palm of your right hand. Grab the right hand glove by pinching near the wrist with your ungloved left hand and remove as before except this time you are trapping the other glove inside. Place the gloves inside the pressure cooker and fasten lid. Take the pressure cooker inside (removing labcoat before entering) and place on stove and apply heat. Vent for at least 10 minutes to remove air, then place the weight over the opening and adjust heat so it gently rocks. Remove N95 mask. Heat it for at least 30 minutes (don't count time when the heat wasn't high enough to rock the weight). The pressure cooking step can be done outside on a hot plate if circumstances permit. Make sure you do not run out of water. Allow the pressure cooker to cool before removing lid. Verify that the windows on envelopes shrank; if any did not shrink, rearange mail gently so steam can circulate, add more water, and repeat. If insufficent window shrinkage indicates inadequate sterilization, you should try: processing less mail at a time, separting the mail with something like popsicle sticks to allow steam to get between mail, and cooking for a longer time (you may need more water).

Very High Risk

You are a high ranking governement official, press, or similar target. Don't accept mail at home at all. Have your home mail forwarded to your workplace which should already have strong precautions in place. Doctors who perform abortions would also fall into this category.

Processing Special Mail Articles

CD-ROMs

A computer with a two firewire or USB connected CD-RW drives (one in the sterile area and one in the infectious area) can be used to copy data from a CD-ROM or Audio CD in incoming mail. The original CD can simply be discarded once the data has been copied. The combination of DVD-ROM drive and a DVD-R drive can copy not only copy CDs but DVDs and DVD-ROMs as well. With a flatbed scanner and a special CD-ROM printer, the disk labels can even be duplicated. To copy DVD videos with copy protection, it may be necessary to bypass the copy protection with DeCSS or similar utility. Yeah, the MPAA might argue this is not legal but I would love to see them argue in a court of law that their right to protect their product against alleged revenue loss due to unauthorized duplication outweighs your right to protect yourself from deadly anthrax spores.

Credit cards

Most companies do not need to worry about credit cards in incoming mail unless they are handling personal mail for employees or customers. Credit cards being returned to banks by customers whose accounts have been terminated are not an issue since the mag stripe and embossing do not need to be usable in such a situation and it is still possible to read the number. For personal credit cards, the envelope is unlikey to be contaminated with anthrax even if the outside of the envelope is contaminanated; carefully separate the contents from the envelope (four hands work better than two, here). Or have the bank send the replacement card via FedEx.

Biological Agents

Anthrax

Photo: Anthrax bacteria in Agar Culture (Source: CDC)

About Anthrax

Spore size 2-6 microns in diameter, rod shaped, gram positive, spore forming gram positive bacteria, Bacillus Anthracis. These rods, like asbestos, are ideally shaped and sized to lodge in the lung. Crudely manufactured anthrax may be clumped. The LD50 (Lethal dose for 50% of the population) is 8000-10000 spores (note that this number is being revised downward). Inhalation anthrax is 90% fatal if antibiotic treatment is not started before symptoms develop.

Anthrax is believed to be the cause of many massive plagues in ancient times. In the developed world, it has been largely wiped out by public health efforts.

Symptoms of Anthrax infection occur in as little as two days or as much as 8 weeks; usually the symptoms occur in under 1 week. Death follows 1-3 days after symptoms.

Anthrax claimed the lives of two use biological weapons researchers at Fort Detrick back when the US had a BW development program. Anthrax in the mail has killed 5 americans. The CIA arsenal included 100 grams of anthrax. Iraq used the letter designation "B" and the air force code word "coffee" for anthrax.

Naturally occuring cases in US:

• Florida, 1973, cutaneous
• South Carolina 1974, cutaneous
• California 1976, inhalational, from yarn. Fatal.
• North Carolina 1987, cutaneous
• 1992, cutaneous
• North Dakota, 2000, cutaneous

CDC Category A.

Links: CDC BT Page, JHU Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies Anthrax Fact Sheet, OSHA Anthrax Fact Shhet , AMA , WHO Anthrax Page

I believe that the spores form internal to the bacterium and are the dark round masses (that you might guess were the nucleus) visible in high resolution pictures of the bacteria.

Anthrax Vacine

smallpox (Variola Major)

There is considerable concern about the possibility of bioterrorists using smallpox. Twenty years ago, smallpox was declared erradicated worldwide and vaccination was stopped and the only two known surviving samples of the virus were in US and Soviet laboratories. These samples were not destroyed because they could be neaded in the future to test future vacines. With the collapse of the soviet union, however, it is likely that the smallpox virus has made its way into the hands of a few terrorist organizations and hostile governments. Smallpox is highly contageous and the world supply of smallpox vacine is not sufficient to protect against a major outbreak. And since people travel more today than when smallpox was originally eradicated, it would be far more difficult to erradicate it again. Smallpox is highly contageous, being spread by aerosol transmission. It was wiped out in this country by universal vacination. It was wiped out in africa by a decade long WHO campaign quarantining every individual with smallpox and everyone they had or were likely to come into contact with; this was possible because people there did not travel much. So, why don't we reinstate universal vacination? We do not have enough vaccine or the facilities to produce enough vaccine in a short period of time. The smallpox vacine was the first vaccine developed by western medicine and hasn't really been improved since then even though our technology for producing vaccines has improved greatly. Indeed, under ordinary conditions it would not be possible to get FDA approval for the smallpox vaccine since it does not meet modern standards. The vaccine is produced by infecting cows with cowpox, a similar disease, and letting it grow for a while. Then, they scrape the resulting pustules on the cows hide and use the result complete with pieces of cow hairs and skin cells, as the vaccine. If we vaccinated everyone today, there would be hundreds of deaths from the vaccine. This is small compared to the millions or even billions of deaths which could result from a smallpox outbreak but the probability of a large outbreak is not considered high enough yet.

What should you do if there is a smallpox outbreak? Stay indoors. Put on a N95 mask or even a crappy dust mask or thinly woven cloth if nothing else is availible. If every infected and uninfected person wore some kind of mask, even a crude one, it might cut the level of contageon to manageable proportions because the virus would have to travel through two masks to spread. Note that this is not a hard scientific conclusion, just my personal suspicion. Primitive face masks will not stop the virus but they may stop the larger saliva particles which contain them. Also note that both the person infected and the person being protected would need to wear masks so everyone around you would need to wear a mask. Wash your hands before eating. Wash your hands after shaking hands with anyone. Limit your contact. Fortunately, while the disease is highly contageous, it is not very hardy; even mild disinfectants appear to be effective against smallpox when used properly (do maintain the recommended contact time). Visit the CDC website or one of the more reputable news sites for up to date recommendations. Note that the disease may have been spreading for a couple weeks by the time the press reports there is a problem.

Ebola, Marburg, and other Viral Hemoragic Fevers

Photo: ebola virus (source: CDC)

Filtration: Should be removed by HEPA filters. Even though most HEPA filters are only spec'ed at 99.97% at 0.3um and the particle diameter is smaller than that, the efficiency should still be 99.9% for 0.080um diameter particles.

Plague

Yersina pestis. One of history's great killers.

CDC Category A.

Links: CDC BT page, JHU Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies Plague Fact Sheet, AMA

Yersina pseudotuberculosis

Formerly called Paseurella and Shigella pseudotuberculosis Yersina pseudotuberculosis itself probably wouldn't rate inclusion in this section except for its relation to Plague and to genetically modified E. coli. Although virulent, it is usually self-limiting not fatal in otherwise healthy people; there is a 75% fatality rate, however, in people with Yersina pestis, which causes plague, is thought to have evolved from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis; the loss of a gene which produces a protein which binds the bacteria to cell walls created much more mobility in the host. Y. pseudotuberculosis, which shares 90% of the DNA with Y. pestis, has been used to vaccinate against plague, although it is not safe as a vaccine in the immunosuppressed. Rats, the natural reservior of Plague, may have developed some immunity to Plague because of varients of Y. pseudotuberculosis reducing the natural reservoir for plague and may have contributed to the eradication of Plague. This bug likes cold weather. Infectious dose about 1 billion organisms. Incubation period: 5-10 days. The genome of Yersina pseudotuberculosis is being sequenced by the Biological Nonproliferation folks at DOE (LLNL?).

Links: Y. pseudotuberculosis Fact Sheet at Kansas State University , eMedicine fact sheet

Botulism

Clostridium botulinium and Botulinum Toxin. The Iraqis used the letter designation "A" and their air force used the code word "tea" to refer to this weapon. CDC Category A.

Note that the abreviation BT can stand for either Bacillus Thuringiensis, Botulinum Toxin, Bio-Terrorism, or Biological Threat depending on context.

Links: CDC BT Page, JHU Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies Botulinum Toxin Fact Sheet, AMA .

Clostridium perfringens

Anaerobic, Gram positive, sporeforming rod bacteria, causes cramps and diarrhea with occasional fatalities due to complications such as dehydration. A more deadly, type C, strain causes often fatal necrotic enteritis. Produces a toxin. This bacterium "causes gangrene and attacks internal organs" . The Iraqs used the alphabetic designation "C" and the air force used the code word "sugar". Iraq declared that it had produced 340 litres of concentrated perfringens toxin? at Al Hakam. They claimed they had also destroyed it; yeah right.

CDC Category B.

Links: FDA page.

Tularemia

Pasteurella tularensis. 20 grams were found in the CIA arsenal.

CDC Category A.

Links: CDC BT Page, JHU Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies Tularemia Fact Sheet, AMA .

Q Fever

Coxiella burnetti. "Q fever" has an infectious dose of 1 as opposed to 8000 for anthrax (fortunately, it doesn't tend to be fatal).

CDC Category B.

Aflatoxin

Aflatoxin is produced by the fungus Aspergilus flavus. Iraq had scud missles and bombs filled with Alfatoxin. Aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen which means the effects take a long time; that pretty severely limits its battlefield use but it could be effective at terrorizing populations.

Agricultural Blights

Agricultural Blights are used to wipe out crops, resulting in economic loss and possibly famine. Wheat Smut is one example.

Anthrax and B. Cerus hybrid

Geneticly modified organism created in the Soviet Union. Anthrax vaccine is not effective.

Brucellosis

Brucella suis and brucella melitensis.

CDC Category B

Links: CDC BT Page, AMA.

Valley Fever

Coccidioides immitis.

Tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Abbreviated TB.

A computer model showed that if you are in the same office building but 10 floors away from someone who has TB for a normal 8 hour workday, you have a 33% chance of being infected. Antibiotic resistant strains of TB have evolved which have greatly increased the fatality rate. A 33% percent infection rate in a 1000 person building means 330 people infected in the first generation. They then go home and give it to grandma and baby jane. And the chances of the remaining 670 occupants of the building remaining infected when 300 carriers of the disease return for the next couple days is not good. A person with TB may feal better after two weeks of treatment but it takes about 6 months to kill all the bacteria. TB causes something like 3 million fatalities worldwide. If you take your drugs for 6 to 9 months, however, the survival rate is 98%. TB is particularly dangerous to people who are HIV+. Fatality rates: Industrialized countries: 7%, Eastern Europe: 15%, Central and South America: 20%, HIV+: 30%, Untreated: 55%, Treatment cost: $2000. For multidrug resitant strains, fatality is 50%.and treatment cost is $250,000.

Links: CDC

Salmonella

Salmonella typhimurium and Chlorine resistant Salmonella Typhimurium were found in the CIA arsenal. This was used by the Rajneeshee cult in Oregon in 1984 (described elsewhere in this document).

Staph and staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)

10 grams of Staphylococcal enterotoxin, which causes food poisoning, were found in the CIA arsenal.

CDC Category B.

Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP)

5 grams of Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP)were found in the CIA arsenal. This tetrahydropurine toxin is one of a dozen toxins produced by Gonyaulacoid dinoflagellates. Fatality rates of 8%-14% in natural outbreaks, from eating contaminated shellfish and fish, have been reported in adults but children are even more susceptible (50%). Without treatment, the fatality rate can be 75%, killing within about 12 hours.

Links: redtide .

Bungarus candidas venom

2 grams of this lethal snake venom were found in the CIA arsenal.

Microcysts aeruginosa

Causes intestinal flu. 25 miligrams of the toxin were found in the CIA aresenal.

Camel Pox

Iraq admitted to experimenting with camel pox.

Hemoragic Conjuctivitus

Iraq admitted to experimenting with hemorragic conjunctivitis, which causes temporary blindness

Rotavirus

Iraq admitted to experimenting with some form of Rotavirus which cause sever diarrhea.

Cholera

Vibrio cholerae. Iraq was believed to have developed cholera weapons. This one has some personal significance to me since this is one of histories great killers which has not been totally eradicated and there was a cholera outbreak in south america during my first trip there. Infected fecal matter spreads to water and food supplies in the absence of sewage treatment.

Enterobacter cloacae

The Rajneeshe cult had obtained Enterobacter cloacae. Causes internal yellowing of papaya. Can cause treatable disease in humans. 11 children were infected by contaminated prefilled saline syringes at a California hospital.

Links WHONET Greece info on antibiotic resistance.

E. coli

Escherichia coli is widely present in the environment and the intestines of healthy adults and is usualy harmless. There are dangerous, strains. E. coli O157:H7 produces a toxin and causes an estimated 73,000 infections and 63 deaths annually in the US. Causes bloody diarrhea with occasional kidney failure. Sources include undercooked contaminated ground beef, raw milk, and drinking or swimming in sewage contaminated water. It can be transmitted from person to person due to poor hygene. It lives in the intestines of healthy cattle. Most people recover without treatment.

Genetically modified strains of E. coli were produced in 1973 which was penicillin resistant (not a big deal since you don't normally need antibiotics). In the 80s, a Stanford biologist created a strain of E. coli with a gene from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Apparently this was done for research purposes, not military ones.

Links: CDC .

Nipah virus

Giardia lamblia

The Rajneeshe cult considered contaminating the water supply with dead rodents which carry the protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia (the cause of Beaver Fever). Symptoms include diarhea, abdominal cramps, bloating, and gas. Transmitted in feces through poor hygene. Children who have bowel movements in swimming pools can transmit the disease although the water can be treated after such an incident by superchlorinating the water to 3 to 5 ppm for 30 minutes.

Links: picture , Maryland Dept. of Health Giardia Lamblia page

Glanders

Actinobacillus mallei and burkholdera mallei.

CDC Category B.

Influenza

Legionnaire's disease

Legionella.

Soviet germ warfare researchers created a modified version of Legionella which caused a condition, after the normal illness had passed, called Horror Autotoxosis, a severe alergic reaction in which the immune system attacks its own tissues. Civillian scientists in the US and Italy also accidently triggered this condition and published the results.

Malaria

Measles

Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE)

15 people at Fort Detrick became sick with this disease.

Prions

Such as mad cow.

Neiseria gonorrhoeae

The Rajneeshee cult had obtained this.

psittacosis bacteria

Five workers at Fort Detrick were hospitalized in 1968 after a centrifuge broke and spread a fog of this bacteria.

Ricin

This is a protein toxin, 200 times more toxic than cyanide.

CDC Category B.

Rickettsiae

Rickettsiae are a class of gram negative bacteria that live inside cells. Among other things, they cause Rocky Mountain Spotted fever. Fort Detrick identified many rickettsiae suitable for germ warfare.

Typhoid

Salmonella typhi

Serratia marcescens

As an experiment, the army sprayed San Francisco with Serratia marcescens. Eleven of the patients at Stanford hospital came down with that illness and one died.

Shigella dysenteriae

The Rajneeshe cult had obtained Shigella dysenteriae. Less than 100 organisms can cause severe dysentery with a 10-20% fatality rate in healthy adults.

Whooping Cough (Pertussus)

Historically, Pertussus, or Whooping Cough, was a very dangerous disease prior to universal vaccination, often causing death in children, and still is a serious problem in undeveloped countries. Pertussus has been on the increase for the last couple decades in the US; there are 5000-7000 cases per year in the US. Caused by the gram negative bacterium Bordetella pertussis, this highly contageous (via aerosol transmission) infection of the respiratory tract causes a a characterstic whooping sound when inhaling after a coughing spell. Antibiotics are not useful once the disease progresses to the whooping stage. The couging spells often cause vomitting. The DTP (or DipTet) vaccine helps prevent Diphtheria, Tetnus, and Pertussus. The protective effect of the vaccine declines over time so adults who had been vaccinated as children may be somewhat susceptible. Some people suffer an allergic reaction to the Pertussus part of the vaccine.

Personal note: there is an outbreak of Whooping Cough in our area and it was even suspected by doctors when my girlfriend and I developed serious respiratory infections.

Links: CDC .

Yellow Fever

tickborne hemmorrhagic fever viruses

Fictional Weapons

Either the organisms/diseases or their effects are fictional. At least we hope so. Truth tends to be stranger than fiction. And things in fiction often have a way of coming true later.

Simulants

Bacillus Thuringiensis and Bacillus globigii are innocuous bacteria that have properties similar to Anthrax and are used for testing. Bacillus Thuringiensis is also used as a pesticide. These do not pose a threat. Note that the abreviation BT can stand for either Bacillus Thuringiensis, Botulinum Toxin, Bio-Terrorism, or Biological Threat depending on context.

Brainpox

From the Cobra Event.

Mutaba

The fictional ebola like disease in the movie Outbreak.

Mailroom Special Equipment and Proceedures

Light table/Light Box

A light table can help identify the contents of an envelope without opening it. Is there a dark shadow in the bottom corners?

A flatbed scanner for a computer with a large transparency attachment may also work either as a standalone light table or the envelope can be scanned digitally and even image processed.

Mailroom Air Handling

Mailrooms should have a separate entrance and air handling. Even if you just block the air ducts (airtight seal, please) and install a window air conditioner, this will help. If you do not have a separate air handling system for the mailroom, there should be a big red switch in the mailroom which shuts down the entire buildings air handling system (actually, not a bad idea even if the mailroom has its own AC) unless the specific design of the air handling system protects against biological threats. HEPA air filters, or perhaps electrostatic precipitators, should be used inside the mail handling area to remove spores from the air.

Showers and sinks

Mailrooms should have a shower. If not a fully plumbed shower, at least a crude emergency shower. A big plastic tub, some PVC pipe and fittings to make a frame. a few shower curtains, and a shower nozzle hooked up to a sink can be used in a pinch. A 12V bilge pump or 115V sump pump can later be used to drain the plastic tub. Consider water temperature and privacy. A permanent shower with dressing area is best since employees can shower if there is even the slightest suspicion. If there is a high risk of contaminated mail, the shower should be fully functional and used each time an employee leaves the mailroom. A HEPA filtered hot air blower (blowing DOWNWARD) for drying after the shower might also be a plus.

Showers should also have a respirator mask with supplied clean air. An oxegen mask with a high flow rate might be suitable for this purpose. An elastic strap to optionally hold the mask on could also be helpful. The shower is, after all, where you should run if you have just gotten anthrax spores all over your body while not wearing full protection. You will probably want to wash the area covered by the mask while slowly exhaling. Put on the mask and activate the air supply and water and take your first breath (you will unavoidibly inhale spores on your upper lip). Remove the mask before exhaling and rinse your face (and perhaps the inside of the mask) before replacing the mask on your face and taking your second breath. Repeat as necessary to clean your face, then breath through the mask while removing your clothing and washing your body and hair.

Likewise, every mailroom should have a sink, preferably one which is operated using at least two of these methods: foot, hand, or motion detector. This permits use without hand contamination, use in the event of a power failure, and use by people in wheelchairs (pay attention to sink height). Disinfecting soaps should be availible including something like softsoap (trichlosan), surgical scrub (hibiclens/chlorhexidine gluconate), and chlorox cleanup (10:1 bleach + detergent). Note that mailroom workers should be instructed on proper hand washing proceedure.

Gloves

Latex gloves should be sufficient for most purposes. Powdered latex gloves increase the chances of developing latex allergies. Further, the powder contaminates the environment so that the room itself and not just the gloves may be hazardous to someone with a latex allergy. Powder free latex gloves are not as easy to put on and the proper size must be availible. With powdered latex gloves, you could stretch a small glove to fit a medium hand. With powder-free gloves, you might have trouble stretching a medium glove to fit a medium hand. Non-latex gloves should be availible for those with allergies. Some alternatives include nyplex and vinyl.

Date/Time stamp mail

Mail may not be processed immediately or a biological agent may not be discovered until later. Or, you don't discover an exposure until you sample the filters in your air handlers. Date/time stamping the mail helps to identify those people who may have entered the mailroom since the package was received.

The DYMO Electronic Date/Time Stamper ($100) is a handheld device which can print Date, Time, one of 7 predefined messages, and a serial number directly on envelopes or papers.

Access Control

All guests to the mailroom should be escorted to ensure that they do not expose themselves to hazards or inadvertantly expose mailroom workers to hazards by failure to follow proceedures (even walking too fast can cause air turbulence which can circumvent safety features of biosafety cabinets). All employees and guests must sign (or badge swite) in and out; in the event that a biological agent is discovered, it will be essential to identify all individuals who may have been in the area. All guests should fill out an emergency contact form the first time they enter the laboratory and sign the visitor log each visit. Glass walls with intercoms will reduce the need for visitors to enter the facility; a glove installed through the glass can even allow for tactile contact when a mail workers significant other drops by to drop something off.

Hazmat Suits

These can range from coveralls to Level A and Level B positive pressure suits. For light duty, tyvek may do. For heavy exposure, a suit which is fully sealed may be needed (but since it doesn't breath, comfort can be a problem).

Improper use of hazmat suits can be dangerous. Suffocation and heat stroke are possibilities. If the suit is not used properly, contamination could enter the suit. Precautions must be taken to prevent contamination when connecting and disconnecting the air supply. What happens when positive air pressure is lost? Do you expose yourself to contaminants when taking the suit off? Is the suit properly decontaminated between uses?

Zippers can be any two - and only two - of the following: cheap, air tight, and strong. If a zipper is both strong and airtight, it is definitely not cheap. A rail zipper (think ziplock bag) is cheap and airtight but not strong, it can accidently open in use. A normal zipper like you would find on ordinary clothing is cheap and strong but it leaks an incredible amount.

Protective garmets for handling of potentially hazardous mail should ideally zip/fasten in the back, not the front. Anthrax spores and other pathogens can pass right through an ordinary zipper. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to open and close a rear zipper without help from another person (a piece of string attached to the zipper can also help). If you must use one which fastens in the front, tape over the zipper with duct tape.

One of the manufacturers of these suits is Kappler

Handicapped access

Sinks, showers, entrances and exits, and workstations should be accessable to people in wheelchairs. A separate wheelchair should be provided for use inside mailroom areas which require change of clothes and showering. Panic buttons should be reachable by a wheelchair. After hours security proceedures should be availble for those who must work hours other than 1st shift either due to a sle