Methods for the assessment of microbial populations recovered from enclosed aerosols

SUMMARY: The viability of microbial populations recovered from aerosols was determined by a slide culture technique and/or the radioactively labelled antibody method and the results were compared with those obtained by the more widely used Bacillus subtilis var. niger spore tracer technique. With Escherichia coli MRE 162, results with the three methods were in good agreement. Slide culture gave inaccurate results with Pasteurella tularensis, live vaccine strain (LVS) and E. coli MRE 160. Results with the spore tracer and radio-antibody methods in conjunction with determinations of viable numbers were in fair agreement when P. tularensis, E. coli MRE 160 and coliphage T 7 were tested.