Report from Round Robin 2006 - SIBA 7th laboratory exercise

Abstract

The NATO group SIBCRA (Sampling and Identification of Biological Chemical and Radiological Agents) arranged a training exercise with respect to identification of biological agents in March 2006. This is an annual exercise and was arranged for the first time in 1999. The object of this year’s exercise was to identify the presence, if any, of biological agents in various complex environmental samples. The challenge of the 7th SIBA exercise was to identify different concentrations of Bacillus anthracis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Francisella tularensis or the Vaccinia virus in soil samples. The results proved that FFI was able to identify all agents using real-time PCR. However, the concentration levels of the biological agents were not determined.

Nato-gruppen SIBCRA (Sampling and Identification of Biological Chemical and Radiological Agents) arrangerte i mars 2006 en interlaboratorieøvelse for Nato og PfP land (Partnership for Peace). Laboratorieøvelsen er årlig, og ble første gang arrangert i 1999. Hensikten er å kunne analysere ukjente prøver med innhold av ulike biologiske agens. Den sjuende SIBA laboratorieøvelsen bestod i å identifisere ulike konsentrasjoner av Bacillus anthracis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Francisella tularensis eller Vaccinia virus i jordprøver. Resultatene fra denne øvelsen viste at FFI klarte å identifisere alle biologiske agensene i de tilsendte prøvene ved bruk av real-time PCR.