A two-component direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) assay, using fluorescein-labeled monoclonal antibodies specific to the Bacillus anthracis cell wall (CW-DFA) and capsule (CAP-DFA) antigens, was evaluated and validated for rapid identification of B. anthracis. We analyzed 230 B. anthracis isolates; 228 and 229 were positive by CW-DFA and CAP-DFA assays, respectively. We also tested 56 non–B. anthracis strains; 10 B. cereus and 2 B. thuringiensis were positive by the CW-DFA assay, and 1 B. megaterium strain was positive by CAP-DFA. Analysis of the combined DFA results identified 227 of 230 B. anthracis isolates; all 56 strains of the other Bacillus spp. were negative. Both DFA assays tested positive on 14 of 26 clinical specimens from the 2001 anthrax outbreak investigation. The two-component DFA assay is a sensitive, specific, and rapid confirmatory test for B. anthracis in cultures and may be useful directly on clinical specimens.

The relationship between skin cancer and ultraviolet radiation is well established. Behaviors such as seeking shade, avoiding sun exposure during peak hours of radiation, wearing protective clothing, or some combination of these behaviors can provide protection. Sunscreen use alone is not considered an adequate protection against ultraviolet radiation. This report presents the results of systematic reviews of effectiveness, applicability, other harms or benefits, economic evaluations, and barriers to use of selected interventions to prevent skin cancer by reducing exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services found that education and policy approaches to increasing sun-protective behaviors were effective when implemented in primary schools and in recreational or tourism settings, but found insufficient evidence to determine effectiveness when implemented in other settings, such as child care centers, secondary schools and colleges, and occupational settings. They also found insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of interventions oriented to healthcare settings and providers, media campaigns alone, interventions oriented to parents or caregivers of children, and community-wide multicomponent interventions. The report also provides suggestions for areas for future research.

On October 12, 2001, two envelopes containing Bacillus anthracis spores passed through a sorting machine in a postal facility in Washington, D.C. When anthrax infection was identified in postal workers 9 days later, the facility was closed. To determine if exposure to airborne B. anthracis spores continued to occur, we performed air sampling around the contaminated sorter. One CFU of B. anthracis was isolated from 990 L of air sampled before the machine was activated. Six CFUs were isolated during machine activation and processing of clean dummy mail. These data indicate that an employee working near this machine might inhale approximately 30 B. anthracis-containing particles during an 8-h work shift. What risk this may have represented to postal workers is not known, but the risk is approximately 20-fold less than estimates of sub-5 micron B. anthracis-containing particles routinely inhaled by asymptomatic, unvaccinated workers in a goat-hair mill.

The plasmid profiles of 619 cultures of Bacillus anthracis which had been isolated and stored between 1954 and 1989 were analyzed using the Laboratory Response Network real-time PCR assay targeting a chromosomal marker and both virulence plasmids (pXO1 and pXO2). The cultures were stored at ambient temperature on tryptic soy agar slants overlaid with mineral oil. When data were stratified by decade, there was a decreasing linear trend in the proportion of strains containing both plasmids with increased storage time (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the proportion of strains containing only pXO1 or strains containing only pXO2 (P ‫؍‬ 0.25), but there was a statistical interdependence between the two plasmids (P ‫؍‬ 0.004). Loss of viability of B. anthracis cultures stored on agar slants is also discussed.Preservation of microorganisms is an important component of microbiological research. Maintenance of a well-defined collection of isolates is crucial for providing reproducible results and continuity in research, as well as for validating newly developed diagnostic and detection methods and treatment and postexposure prophylaxis protocols. While the ultimate objectives for preservation are maximum viability, genetic stability, and prevention of contamination, the preservation method is often chosen primarily based on ease of recovery and cost. Historically, the preservation methods that have been used include storage on agar slants, lyophilization, cryopreservation, and desiccation. There have been several reports regarding the effect that a chosen preservation method can have on bacteria (1, 3, 9, 12), but no study has focused specifically on both the viability and plasmid stability of bacteria after extended storage (Ͼ5 years) or have involved a large number of strains (Ͼ20 strains).Bacillus anthracis, the etiologic agent of anthrax, has two principal virulence factors, the toxin complex and the polypeptide capsule, which are encoded on separate plasmids, designated pXO1 and pXO2, respectively. Consequently, understanding plasmid stability during storage in a culture collection is especially important for B. anthracis. The plasmid profiles of a large collection of B. anthracis isolates that had been stored at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from the 1950s through the 1980s were studied to assess the effects of long-term storage on the stability of pXO1 and pXO2. MATERIALS AND METHODSIsolates. Of 1,150 storage slants, 769 were cultured successfully; the isolates on the remaining slants were no longer viable. All isolates had been stored at room temperature on tryptic soy agar slants overlaid with mineral oil in glass screw-cap tubes. The collection was stored in several different physical locations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For each slant, the mineral oil was removed from the tube, and 5 ml of heart infusion broth (Remel, Lenexa, KS) was added. The surface of the agar was scraped with a loop to suspend spores on the slant in the broth. The tube was then i...