Abstract:
Wastewater handling has been associated with an increased risk of developing adverse health effects, including respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. However, there is a paucity of information in the literature, and occupational health risks are not well quantified. Grab influent samples were analysed using Illumina Miseq 16S amplicon sequencing to assess potential worker exposure to bacterial pathogens occurring in five municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The most predominant phyla were Bacteroidota, Campilobacterota, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Desulfobacterota, accounting for 85.4% of the total bacterial community. Taxonomic analysis showed a relatively low diversity of bacterial composition of the predominant genera across all WWTPs, indicating a high degree of bacterial community stability in the influent source. Pathogenic bacterial genera of human health concern included Mycobacterium, Coxiella, Escherichia/Shigella, Arcobacter, Acinetobacter, Streptococcus, Treponema, and Aeromonas. Furthermore, WHO-listed inherently resistant opportunistic bacterial genera were identified. These results suggest that WWTP workers may be occupationally exposed to several bacterial genera classified as hazardous biological agents for humans. Therefore, there is a need for comprehensive risk assessments to ascertain the actual risks and health outcomes among WWTP workers and inform effective intervention strategies to reduce worker exposure.
摘要:
废水处理与产生不利健康影响的风险增加有关,包括呼吸道和胃肠道疾病。然而,文献中缺乏信息,职业健康风险没有得到很好的量化。使用IlluminaMiseq16S扩增子测序分析了抓取的进水样品,以评估工人对五个市政污水处理厂(WWTP)中发生的细菌病原体的潜在暴露。最主要的门是拟杆菌,弯曲杆菌,变形杆菌,Firmicutes,和脱硫细菌,占细菌群落总数的85.4%。分类学分析表明,在所有污水处理厂中,主要属的细菌组成多样性相对较低,表明进水源中细菌群落的高度稳定性。人类健康关注的病原细菌属包括分枝杆菌,柯西拉,大肠杆菌/志贺氏菌,弓形虫,不动杆菌,链球菌,密螺旋体,和气单胞菌。此外,确定了WHO列出的固有抗性机会性细菌属。这些结果表明,WWTP工人可能在职业上暴露于几种被归类为人类危险生物制剂的细菌属。因此,需要进行全面的风险评估,以确定污水处理厂工人的实际风险和健康结果,并为减少工人暴露的有效干预策略提供信息。