IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i7p1490-d158006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Workers Exposed to Bioaerosol in Wastewater Treatment Plants Aimed at the Choice and Setup of Safety Measures

Author

Listed:
  • Annalaura Carducci

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Gabriele Donzelli

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Lorenzo Cioni

    (Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy)

  • Ileana Federigi

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Roberto Lombardi

    (Department of Technology Innovations, Research, and Certification Sector—INAIL, Research Centre—Via Fontana Candida 1, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone (Rm), Italy)

  • Marco Verani

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

Biological risk assessment in occupational settings currently is based on either qualitative or semiquantitative analysis. In this study, a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) has been applied to estimate the human adenovirus (HAdV) health risk due to bioaerosol exposure in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). A stochastic QMRA model was developed considering HAdV as the index pathogen, using its concentrations in different areas and published dose–response relationship for inhalation. A sensitivity analysis was employed to examine the impact of input parameters on health risk. The QMRA estimated a higher average risk in sewage influent and biological oxidation tanks (15.64% and 12.73% for an exposure of 3 min). Sensitivity analysis indicated HAdV concentration as a predominant factor in the estimated risk. QMRA results were used to calculate the exposure limits considering four different risk levels (one illness case per 100, 1.000, 10.000, and 100.000 workers): for 3 min exposures, we obtained 565, 170, 54, and 6 GC/m 3 of HAdV. We also calculated the maximum time of exposure for each level for different areas. Our findings can be useful to better define the effectiveness of control measures, which would thus reduce the virus concentration or the exposure time.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalaura Carducci & Gabriele Donzelli & Lorenzo Cioni & Ileana Federigi & Roberto Lombardi & Marco Verani, 2018. "Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Workers Exposed to Bioaerosol in Wastewater Treatment Plants Aimed at the Choice and Setup of Safety Measures," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-12, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1490-:d:158006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1490/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1490/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clark, C.S. & Linnemann Jr., C.C. & Gartside, P.S. & Phair, J.P. & Blacklow, N. & Zeiss, C.R., 1985. "Serologic survey of rotavirus, Norwalk agent and Prototheca wickerhamii in wastewater workers," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 75(1), pages 83-85.
    2. Annalaura Carducci & Gabriele Donzelli & Lorenzo Cioni & Marco Verani, 2016. "Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment in Occupational Settings Applied to the Airborne Human Adenovirus Infection," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-10, July.
    3. Luigi Vimercati & Antonio Baldassarre & Maria Franca Gatti & Luigi De Maria & Antonio Caputi & Angelica A. Dirodi & Francesco Cuccaro & Raffaello Maria Bellino, 2016. "Respiratory Health in Waste Collection and Disposal Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-8, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mayerlin Sandoval Herazo & Graciela Nani & Florentina Zurita & Carlos Nakase & Sergio Zamora & Luis Carlos Sandoval Herazo & Erick Arturo Betanzo-Torres, 2022. "A Review of the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater: Transmission Risks in Mexico," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Rasha Maal-Bared, 2022. "Protecting Wastewater Workers by Categorizing Risks of Pathogen Exposures by Splash and Fecal-Oral Transmission during Routine Tasks," Waste, MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-10, November.
    3. Hamza Mbareche & Marc Veillette & Jonathan Pilote & Valérie Létourneau & Caroline Duchaine, 2019. "Bioaerosols Play a Major Role in the Nasopharyngeal Microbiota Content in Agricultural Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-22, April.
    4. Jamil Ahmed & Li Ping Wong & Yan Piaw Chua & Najeebullah Channa & Rasool Bux Mahar & Aneela Yasmin & James A. VanDerslice & Joshua V. Garn, 2020. "Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Drinking Water Quality to Predict the Risk of Waterborne Diseases in Primary-School Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jamil Ahmed & Li Ping Wong & Yan Piaw Chua & Najeebullah Channa & Rasool Bux Mahar & Aneela Yasmin & James A. VanDerslice & Joshua V. Garn, 2020. "Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Drinking Water Quality to Predict the Risk of Waterborne Diseases in Primary-School Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Andrew Watterson, 2016. "Occupational Safety and Related Impacts on Health and the Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-4, October.
    3. Yanyan Guo & Ran Wei & Xingqing Zhang & Fuliang Chai & Youcai Zhao & Tao Zhou, 2022. "Positive Impacts of the Overall-Process Management Measures on Promoting Municipal Solid Waste Classification: A Case Study of Chongqing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-13, November.
    4. Rachel Sklar & Zeyi Zhou & Marley Zalay & Ashley Muspratt & S. Katharine Hammond, 2019. "Occupational Exposure to Endotoxin along a Municipal Scale Fecal Sludge Collection and Resource Recovery Process in Kigali, Rwanda," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-11, November.
    5. Fabio Barbone & Dolores Catelan & Riccardo Pistelli & Gabriele Accetta & Daniele Grechi & Franca Rusconi & Annibale Biggeri, 2019. "A Panel Study on Lung Function and Bronchial Inflammation among Children Exposed to Ambient SO 2 from an Oil Refinery," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-18, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1490-:d:158006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.