Aeromedical Isolation Team

Contingency missions included bioterrorism scenarios as well as the extraction of scientists with exotic infections from remote sites in foreign countries.

The AIT was created in 1978 for purposes of contingency air evacuation of a hypothetical USAMRIID researcher who might become exposed to a highly infectious pathogen while undertaking endemic surveillance in remote areas of the world where a suspected or known disease outbreak was occurring.

Developed by Vickers in the U.K. in the 1970s[4] — and manufactured in later years by Elwyn Roberts Isolators, Shropshire, UK, until 2007 — the ATI was a self-contained unit capable of transporting a patient with a highly virulent disease and at the same time providing maximum microbiological security while full nursing care and treatment are rendered.

The interior of the isolator was maintained at a pressure negative to the external environment by a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered blower.

Over the years the scope of the AIT/MCS mission was expanded to include U.S. military personnel, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. citizens or foreign nationals deemed to be in need of service by the U.S. Department of State.