Using the
HMB IV to Determine Biological Content of Suspicious Substances
Background and Usage
During the
Anthrax episodes following the 9/11/2001 terror attack on the United States, public safety
officials (hazmat teams in fire departments, sheriff departments etc;) were besieged with
calls to respond to incidents associated with “powders of unknown origin.” Essentially, all such calls had to be handled with
seriousness, meaning that a person had to go to the site and evaluate the situational
threat potential. In the overwhelming
majority of such cases, the suspicious substance was not a bioterror threat. Nevertheless, samples had to be taken for
analysis, a process that took, in some cases, weeks to get results. The responder had to make a subjective judgment,
on site, on how to handle the specific situation in the interim (quarantine e.g.).
In 2001, no technology existed to make a rapid assessment of the biological character of powdered substances on site. While technology is being researched to provide on site testing capability for specific biological organisms, the products that might issue from such work is years in the future. BioTech was approached by persons responsible for ‘first response’ with the request for a product that could determine, on site, whether or not a substance was biological. While knowing ‘what it was’ would be most useful, that technology was not available. Just knowing whether the substance had biological content would allow an objective assessment and the disposition of cases could be made according to an objective test result rather than the responder’s subjective judgment. This was perceived as having tremendous value because if the substance could be shown to be non-biological, the majority of cases could be defused, while those showing positive for biological content could be handled with more confidence in the customary manner. In concert with these ‘first responders,’ BioTech adapted the HMB IV methodology to accommodate this need. The specifications were essentially twofold:
First, the procedure had to be simple so that a responder in protective clothing could make the test on site. BioTech adapted its HMB biological test to this need: To do the test, one simply uses a wet swab to collect the substance, drops the swab into a test tube, adds a few drops of a reactive agent from a squeeze bottle and 15 minutes later, presents the test tube to the HMB IV for a reading.
Second, the test needed to be portable with all testing materials readily accessible in one kit. This need was met by creating a special public safety test kit.
The result
is the HMB IV-SP for Public Safety Response teams.