The Radiation Technology Group of ITN Portugal is developing two different projects that could contribute to the prevention and early detection of microbiological war: “Control of the environment in surgical rooms at Army hospitals and the impact on the incidence of cross‐infection” and “Sanitation of chicken eggs by ionising radiation”.

The first project focuses on the development and improvement of alternative techniques to control the environment in surgical rooms leading to the detection and identification of nosocomial microorganisms in a Portuguese Hospital. A database can then be constructed that could demonstrate the relation between the improvement of the airborne conditions and the hospital infection agents. This project includes a continuous monitorization of the surgery rooms' natural air bioburden and nosocomial microorganisms, and the consequent updating of the database. This study will be carried out based on the molecular type of isolated strains from infected patients during surgery and the correlation with surgical environment isolated strains. This procedure could lead to a model for the detection of emerging microorganisms that could become hospital infectious agents.

The second project uses the decontaminating capacity of ionising radiation to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms in eggs and will be presented in a different section.

These two studies, although in different microbiological areas, are examples of how we could deal with potential harmful public health agents: detection and prevention.