An anthrax "smoke" detector

We report a method for automated monitoring of airborne endospores, which combines an aerosol capture technique with endospore detection based on terbium luminescence turn-on. We have demonstrated quantification of aerosolized bacterial spores with a response time of /spl sim/15 min, a sensitivity of 10/sup 4/ spores/ml, and a dynamic range of 4 orders of magnitude using a bioaerosol sampler, a microwave, and a lifetime-gated fluorimeter. Ultimately, the most attractive feature we have demonstrated is the unattended monitoring of aerosolized bacterial spores for the duration of a workday (/spl sim/8 hours).