IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i23p4740-d291330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Occupational Exposure to Endotoxin along a Municipal Scale Fecal Sludge Collection and Resource Recovery Process in Kigali, Rwanda

Author

Listed:
  • Rachel Sklar

    (Environmental Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA)

  • Zeyi Zhou

    (Environmental Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA)

  • Marley Zalay

    (Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Oakland, CA 94612, USA)

  • Ashley Muspratt

    (Independent Consultant, Northampton, MA 01060, USA)

  • S. Katharine Hammond

    (Environmental Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA)

Abstract

Background : Little is known about occupational exposures that occur along fecal sludge collection and resource recovery processes. This study characterizes inhaled endotoxin exposure to workers of a municipal scale fecal sludge-to-fuel processes in Kigali, Rwanda. Methods : Forty-two task-based air samples were collected from workers in five tasks along the fecal sludge collection and resource recovery process. Samples were processed for endotoxin using the limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) test. To account for exposure variability and compare measured concentrations to established exposure limits, we used Monte Carlo modeling methods to construct distributions representing full eight-hour (8-h) exposures to endotoxin across eight exposure scenarios. Results : Geometric mean (GM) endotoxin concentrations in task-based samples ranged from 11–3700 EU/m 3 with exposure concentrations increasing as the dryness of the fecal sludge increased through processing. The thermal dryer task had the highest endotoxin concentrations (GM = 3700 EU/m 3 ) and the inlet task had the lowest (GM = 11 EU/m 3 ). The geometric means (GM) of modeled 8-h exposure concentrations were between 6.7–960 EU/m 3 and highest for scenarios which included the thermal dryer task in the exposure scenario. Conclusions : Our data suggest the importance of including worker exposure considerations in the design of nascent fecal sludge management processes. The methods used in this study combine workplace sampling with stochastic modeling and are useful for exposure assessment in resource constrained contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4740-:d:291330
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4740/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4740/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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)

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.

    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:16:y:2019:i:23:p:4740-:d:291330. 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.