Quantitative microbial risk assessment of outdoor aerosolized pathogens in cities with poor sanitation.
Sci Total Environ
; 827: 154233, 2022 Jun 25.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35245543
ABSTRACT
The aeromicrobiological transmission pathway of enteric pathogens in places with unsafe sanitation services is poorly understood. In an attempt to partly fill this knowledge gap, we assessed the potential public health impact of bioaerosols near open waste canals (OWCs) using Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA). We used data acquired in La Paz, Bolivia to characterize the risk of disease that aerosolized enteric pathogens may pose through food, fomites and inhalation (all followed by ingestion). Three reference pathogens were selected to conduct the assessment enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Shigella flexneri, and Campylobacter jejuni. Inhalation followed by ingestion had the highest median infection risk per event i.e. 3 × 10-5 (3 infections for every 100,000 exposures), compared to contaminated food e.g. 5 × 10-6 and fomites e.g. 2 × 10-7, all for C. jejuni infections. Our sensitivity analysis showed that bacterial fluxes from the air were the most influential factor on risk. Our results suggest that fecal bacterial aerosols from OWCs present non-negligible risks of infection in La Paz, with median annual infection risks by C. jejuni being 18 (food), and 100 (inhalation) times greater than the EPA's standard for drinking water (1 × 10-4). We included two of the QMRA models presented here in a novel web application we developed for user-specified application in different contexts.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Saneamento
/
Escherichia coli
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Total Environ
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos