Dr. Edo McGowan
Subject: Reducing bioaerosols from wastewater treatment plants
Date: 11/15/2006
For what it's worth-------I had forgotten all about this.
In the Sept 2005 Journal of Environmental Health @ p. 24 et seq, O'Hara & Rubin present a paper indicating that both
wastewater treatment plants and spray irrigation of treated water may spread microorganisms such as bacteria and
viruses. I commented on this paper that comment and the author's reply was printed in the Jan/Feb 2006 @ p.83, in
which they indicate that an interesting new concept had thus been introduced. They note that the issue of mobile
genetic elements expands the traditional concerns for viruses, bacteria and microorganisms and thus movement of
antimicrobial resistance and virulence. These authors, in their work, had cited the recent review by Brooks, Josephson,
Gerba & Pepper, as one that had identified appropriate reports. Thus it was gratifying to see their acknowledgement of
the concepts on resistance printed in this journal and also the lack of comment by the sludge proponents. They note
that "our intent was to identify a combination of feasible steps that would significantly reduce risk to human health from
the treatment and land application of wastewater. To the extent that mobile genetic elements are dispersed with
bioaerosols, we believe that the results of our review bear on the question of mobility of and exposure to these genetic
elements."
McGowan E.
Reducing bioaerosols dispersion from wastewater treatment and its land application: a review and analysis.
J Environ Health. 2006 Jan-Feb;68(6):83; author reply 83. No abstract available.
PMID: 16483089 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Reducing Bioaerosol Dispersion from Wastewater Treatment and Its ... Reducing Bioaerosol Dispersion from
Wastewater Treatment and Its Land Application: A Review ... O'Hara, Robert Rubin; Journal of Environmental Health,
Vol. ...
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