Environmental Assessment

• The initial goals of the environmental assessment and response following the release of plague bacteria during a bioterrorism event are to evaluate human plague risks associated with:
• Exposure to infected animals.
• Exposure to infectious fleas.
• Exposure to other materials, such as contaminated surfaces, soils, and water supplies.
• It is assumed that sampling of these materials will be limited because plague bacteria survive poorly in external environments and are unlikely to pose more than short-term risks for humans. If this assumption proves invalid, more intensive sampling of non-host, non-vector environments will have to be done.