The management of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) terrorism events is critical to reducing morbidity and mortality in the next decade; however, initial patient care considerations and protective actions for staff are unfamiliar to most front-line clinicians. High explosive events (bomb and blast) remain the most common type of terrorism and are easy to detect. Conversely, some types of t...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Various conventional methods such as gaseous, vapour and misting systems, fogging, manual spray and wipe techniques employing a number of chemical agents are used for decontamination of enclosed spaces. Among all these methods, use of aerosolized formaldehyde is the most preferred method due to cost-effectiveness and practical aspects. However, being extremely corrosive ...

Aflatoxin-contaminated commodities can be detoxified by a variety of methods based to some extent on economics and the physical and chemical characteristics of the substance being treated. Electronic and hand sorting of peanuts with ammoniation of contaminated oilseed meals and corn currently appears to offer the most promise. Microbiological decontamination appears to be the least feasible met...

A protocol was optimized for the isolation of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) from milk and colostrum, with parameters including chemical decontamination, antibiotics, and different culture media. This study demonstrates that the efficiency of MAP recovery from milk is highly dependent upon the culturing protocol, and such protocols should be optimized to ensure that low conce...

In the event of a chemical terrorist attack on a transportation hub, post-event remediation and restoration activities necessary to attain unrestricted facility re-use and re-entry could require hours to multiple days. While timeframes are dependent on numerous variables, a primary controlling factor is the level of pre-planning and decision-making completed prior to chemical release. What foll...

The decontamination and remediation of sulfur mustard chemical warfare agents remains an ongoing challenge. Herein, we report the use of "off-the-shelf" metal salts alongside commercially available peroxides to catalyze the degradation of the simulant 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) in solution and encapsulated within a supramolecular gel.

Self-decontaminating materials are defined as substances or objects designed and fabricated to deactivate pathogenic microorganisms or chemical warfare agents. Self-decontamination makes it possible for continuous protection against toxic materials. In order to develop destructive barriers against biological and chemical air pollutants, protective clothing and membranes using catalytic or enzym...

With an estimated 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials [1] transported throughout the U.S. each day, the threat of an accidental or intentional release of a toxic industrial compound is viewed as a serious one. Chemical plants, pipelines, storage facilities, railroads, and trucks are all possible sources from which toxic industrial compounds could be released. Should such an incident occur,...