Campylobacter risk for the consumers of wastewater-irrigated vegetables based on field experiments.

Campylobacter risk for the consumers of wastewater-irrigated vegetables based on field experiments. Chemosphere. 2020 Jul;251:126408 Authors: Farhadkhani M, Nikaeen M, Hadi M, Gholipour S, Yadegarfar G Abstract Water scarcity is emerging as a major problem in water stressed regions such as Middle East countries which highlights the importance of agricultural reuse of wastewater as a valid alternative source. However, consumption of wastewater-irrigated crops has been implicated as a vehicle for transmission of bacterial infections such as campylobacteriosis. Understanding and minimizing public health threats associated with agricultural reuse of treated wastewater (TWW) are crucial elements in sustainable water resource management. To address this need, the present study was carried out to determine Campylobacter risk for the consumers of TWW-irrigated vegetables by field experiments as well as quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model. Campylobacter was monitored in secondary treated wastewater, TWW-irrigated soil and harvested vegetables by nested real-time PCR assay. Campylobacter was detected in 64% (16/25) of TWW samples, whereas analysis of TWW-irrigated soil and vegetable samples yielded no positive result for Campylobacter. The estimated mean annual Campylobacter disease burden ranged from 2.37 × 10-5 to 6.6 × 10-5 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per person per year (pppy) for vegetable consumers which ...
Source: Chemosphere - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Chemosphere Source Type: research