Sensor Systems for Biological Agent Attacks: Protecting Buildings and Military Bases

TABLE 3.1 Biological Particles That May Be Present in Indoor Air and Their Sizes

Source Organism	Particle	Size Range (μm)	Common Examples	Unique Characteristics
Virus	One or more virions in droplet nucleus	<0.1-3	Influenza	Particle may be much larger than organism; RNA or DNA, not both
Mycoplasma	One or more organisms in droplet nucleus	1-5	M. pneumoniae	No cell wall
Chlamydia	One or more organisms in droplet nucleus	1-5	Chlamydia psittasi
Rickettsia	One or more organisms in droplet nucleus	1-5	Coxiella burnetii	Obligate intracellular pathogen
Bacteria	One or more bacteria in droplet nucleus or on a raft	1-5	Micrococcus luteus	Variable in size, shape, cell wall composition
	Single or grouped dry spores	0.5-5 3	Bacillus cereus Thermoactinomyces	Highly resistant endospores
	Cell wall fragments	<0.1
Algae	One or more cells	5-10	Chlorococcus	Chlorophyll, cellulose
Nonvascular plants	One or more spores	15-30	Mosses	Chlorophyll, cellulose
Vascular plants	Spore	15-30	Lycopodium ferns
	Pollen	10-50	Trees, grasses, weeds	Sporopollenin
	Pollen allergens	?
	Hairs	10-100		Cellulose
	Fragments	?	Soy beans	Cellulose
Arthropods	Fragments	?	Cockroach, dust mite	Chitin
	Fecal material	20-30
Animals	Fragments	?	Cats, dogs, mice	Keratin
	Skin scales	10-50
Fungi	One or more spores	1.5-100	Mushrooms, aspergillus	Chitin
	One or more hyphae	1.5-100		Ergosterol
	Fragments	?		1-3 β-d-glucan

Particle sizes range from less than 0.1 micrometers to more than 100 micrometers and can vary with relative humidity. Spores are generally smaller in air than when mounted in liquid media for microscopy. In addition to particles directly derived from living organisms, other particles in air may also share properties with the bioaerosols. Some examples include latex particles and combustion products derived

Table of Contents

Front Matter R1-R12

Executive Summary 1-6

1 Background and Overview 7-12

2 Scenarios, Defensive Concepts, and Detection Architectures 13-22

3 Indoor and Outdoor Bioaerosol Backgrounds and Sampling Strategies 23-45

4 Bioaerosol Samplings Systems for Near-Real-Time Detection 46-70

5 Point and Standoff Detection Technologies 71-83

6 Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Identification for Detect-to-Warn Applications 84-104

7 Structure-Based Identification for Detect-to-Warn Applications 105-129

8 Chemistry-Based Identification for Detect-to-Warn Applications 130-148

9 Function-Based Detection 149-154

10 Design Considerations for Detect-to-Warn Defensive Architectures 155-177

11 Summary of Conlusions and a Path Forward 178-186

Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members 187-193

Appendix B Acronyms and Abbreviations 194-196