BCST Reports

A Framework for Assessing the Health Hazards Posed by Bioaerosols (2008) Biological detectors play an important role in protecting military personnel and the general public from biological warfare, where biological agents (bacteria, viruses, or other disease-causing organisms) are used to intentionally harm or kill. Designed to detect such agents promptly, biological detectors make it possible to minimize contamination and exposure and initiate early treatment. It is also important that these detectors do not set off alarms unless the situation warrants it. Such "false positives" may result in unnecessary actions and could impact a mission's success. Thus, testing of biological aerosol detectors to measure their performance is essential. At the request of the Department of Defense, the National Research Council convened a committee to examine the U.S. Army's use of Agent Containing Particles per Liter of Air (ACPLA) to evaluate detector performance and to develop a standard unit of measure for biological aerosols. This report discusses ACPLA and proposes using the health hazard posed by biological aerosols as a basis for evaluation of detector performance. More...