Prototype detector could identify anthrax quickly

A prototype handheld detector under development at Sandria National Laboratories in the US can identify the fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of anthrax in less than five minutes.

Identification of the bacillus in minutes, rather than the hours currently necessary, is a crucial step in alerting a building's occupants to flee the deadly bacteria, as well as activating defenses such as anti-anthrax foam dispersal systems.

The technique works by preconcentrating airborne particles on a tiny hotplate that acts like a skillet on a stove. The hotplate immediately vaporises the fatty acids in anthrax's cell walls to create the FAME that form a unique fingerprint of the bacteria.

A small computer program correlates the mass of each ester emitted in the analysed gases at particular times - a process called elution - with already categorised elution peaks indicative of anthrax or other diseases.

Standard techniques require a lengthy extraction/derivatisation step followed by FAME chromatography. Sandia's chemographic and surface acoustic wave analysis of gases driven from the bacteria enables far more rapid identification.

Item provided courtesy of GlobalTechnoScan