Los Angeles Hotel Installs Anthrax Detector

March 11, 2005
Unit will monitor for presence of anthrax spores inside the hotel's HVAC system

Heralding the kind of partnership that must be made between public and private sector in the fight against terrorism, Universal Detection Technology (UDT), a maker of anthrax detection equipment, announced that the company had installed one of its anthrax smoke detectors at an undisclosed hotel in Orange County, Calif.

According to the statement from UDT, the detector was placed inside the hotel's HVAC system "at the point where air from the lobby and the common areas are circulated back in to the building."

The UDT detector captures extremely small particles (less than three microns) and captures air from the exhaust duct in the lobby. The unit samples on an hourly basis, searching for the bacterial spores that signify anthrax.

According to UDT, the hotel is part of an "internationally branded" chain, and UDT Chairman and CEO Jacques Tizabi called the installation a milestone for his company.