Lethality of Bacillus Anthracis Spores Due to Short Duration Heating Measured Using Infrared Spectroscopy

In this research, Bacillus anthracis spores were subjected to bursts of heat lasting on the order of one second in duration using a laser system to simulate the explosive environment from an agent defeat weapon. Heating times and temperatures were varied to establish a method to characterize the relationship between heating time, heating temperature, and spore viability. Two heating temperatures were examined at three variations of heating time ranging from 1.2 to 4.2 seconds. The higher temperature was adequate to neutralized the spore samples for both heating times. The lower temperature neutralized a portion of the spores during the shortest heating time, and sterilized the sample at the longest heating time. Before and after heating Raman spectra were obtained of the spores in order to characterize spectral differences related to neutralization by heat.