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Environmental Microbiological Contamination and Public Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 7454

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Science of Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, TO, Italy
Interests: waterborne pathogens; microbiological water quality; environmental microbiology analytical methods; water microbiological indicator of contamination; wastewater-based epidemiology; treated wastewater microbiological quality; airborne PM genotoxic effect
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Guest Editor
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, TO, Italy
Interests: emerging pathogens; environment; antibiotic resistance; molecular methods; water; food
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Public health and diseases are affected by many complex factors. The environment plays an important role as driver of human health, and, in particular, the microbiological component can impact on human health from various points of view. One of the aspects that cannot be ignored is certainly the role that the environment can play in human microbial pathogens’ spread: the importance of different environmental sources such as water, air, and soil in the diffusion of the pathogenic microorganism has long been known. Despite this, the continuous emergence of new microbiological problems (e.g., emerging viruses, antibiotic-resistant bacteria) underlines the need to enhance the research activity on this aspect. Moreover, recent developments in laboratory methods and knowledge in the field of microbiological risk assessment have highlighted new risk profiles and research topics.

This Special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of knowledge on the role of the environment in the spreading of human pathogenic microorganisms. New research papers, reviews, and case reports are welcome to this Issue. Other accepted manuscript types include methodological papers, position papers, brief reports, and commentaries. Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Impact of environmental micro-organisms on public health;
Emerging human pathogens in environmental matrices (water, air, soil);
Environmental-related human microbial infectious diseases;
New method for human microbial pathogen detection in the environment;
New sampling and concentration methods for the detection of human microbial pathogens in environmental matrices;
Microbiological risk assessment;
New risk profiles (e.g., occupation risks, new environmental sources);
Relationship between environmental microbioma and human health;
New environmental microbial related concerns (e.g., antibiotic resistance);
Environmental contamination indicators and surrogates;
Transfer of human microbial pathogens from the environment (soil) to vegetables and fruits for human consumption.

Prof. Dr. Elisabetta Carraro
Dr. Silvia Bonetta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • public health
  • emerging microbial pathogens
  • sampling and detection methods
  • MRA
  • QMRA
  • new microbiological risk
  • environmental microbioma

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

15 pages, 1663 KiB  
Review
Bathing Water Quality Monitoring Practices in Europe and the United States
by Ananda Tiwari, David M. Oliver, Aaron Bivins, Samendra P. Sherchan and Tarja Pitkänen
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5513; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115513 - 21 May 2021
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 6045
Abstract
Many countries including EU Member States (EUMS) and the United States (U.S.) regularly monitor the microbial quality of bathing water to protect public health. This study comprehensively evaluates the EU bathing water directive (BWD) and the U.S. recreational water quality criteria (RWQC) as [...] Read more.
Many countries including EU Member States (EUMS) and the United States (U.S.) regularly monitor the microbial quality of bathing water to protect public health. This study comprehensively evaluates the EU bathing water directive (BWD) and the U.S. recreational water quality criteria (RWQC) as regulatory frameworks for monitoring microbial quality of bathing water. The major differences between these two regulatory frameworks are the provision of bathing water profiles, classification of bathing sites based on the pollution level, variations in the sampling frequency, accepted probable illness risk, epidemiological studies conducted during the development of guideline values, and monitoring methods. There are also similarities between the two approaches given that both enumerate viable fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) as an index of the potential risk to human health in bathing water and accept such risk up to a certain level. However, enumeration of FIB using methods outlined within these current regulatory frameworks does not consider the source of contamination nor variation in inactivation rates of enteric microbes in different ecological contexts, which is dependent on factors such as temperature, solar radiation, and salinity in various climatic regions within their geographical areas. A comprehensive “tool-box approach”, i.e., coupling of FIB and viral pathogen indicators with microbial source tracking for regulatory purposes, offers potential for delivering improved understanding to better protect the health of bathers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Microbiological Contamination and Public Health)
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