Destruction of bacillus cereus spores as surrogate for anthrax spores by gamma radiation

Abstract EN

Bacillus anthracis is the main causative agent of the disease anthrax.

Its spores represent a serious bioterrorism agent that can be dispersed through parcels, mail, food and human water supply.

In the present experiments, Bacillus cereus spores were used because of their similarity to Bacillus anthracis spores and the very high risk from using Bacillus anthracis spores in the research laboratories.

The effectiveness of gamma radiation for inactivation of high concentration (108 spores) of B.

cereus spores artificially inoculated into envelope paper, aluminum foil, shredded carrot and distilled water was studied.

It was found that B.

cereus spores on surface of envelope paper and aluminum foil were more resistant to gamma radiation than the same spores in shredded carrot and distilled water.

The D-10values obtained from the regression line of the dose-response curves were 3.17, 2.64, 2.22 and 1.88 kGy, respectively.

Extrapolation from these D-10values indicates that 25.36, 21.12, 17.76 and 15.04 kGy could be required to kill 8 log10 B.

cereus spores contaminating the above materials, respectively.

Generally, these results suggest that the application of ionizing radiation could be successfully used for the decontamination of bioterrorist attack through mail, food or drinking water.