The Nebulized Airborne Biohazard Stage Alert (NABSA) is a method utilizing
an optical particle counter in conjunction with a fluorometer as triggers
to detect and assess potential biohazard threats infused into surrounding
air. In the first stage an optical particle counter is constantly passing
sampled air in front of an energy source, in turn scattering light. This
scattered light is evaluated to establish if the particles are above one
micrometer in concentrations, and thus potentially an aerosolized threat.
Such detection triggers the secondary stage in which the sample particles
are tested for viability via processing through a dye with fluorescent
properties affected when bonded with an entity universally found in all
biological substances and a UV light source. The detection of
concentrations of oversized, viable particles triggers the third stage to
compare a sample of the particles to known biowarfare agents to delineate
the specific agent species.