Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) tool for modelling pathogen infection risk to wastewater treatment plant workers.

ABSTRACT: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) provide vital services to the public by removing contaminants from wastewater prior to environmental discharge or reuse for beneficial purposes. WWTP workers occupationally exposed to wastewater can be at risk of respiratory or gastrointestinal diseases. The study objectives were to: (1) quantify pathogens and pathogen indicators in wastewater aerosols near different WWTP processes/unit operations, (2) develop a QMRA model for multi-pathogen and multi-exposure pathway risks, and (3) create a web-based application to perform and communicate risk calculations for wastewater workers. Case studies for seven different WWTP job tasks were performed investigating infection risk across nine different enteric and respiratory pathogens. It was observed that the in

SUBMITTER: Heida A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11657630 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature