Developing a questionnaire to assess the health effects of bioaerosols

Respiratory Morbidity Among Seed-Processing Industry Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural West Bengal, 2022-2023

Background

Seed processing workers are exposed to dust particles generated during the processing of seeds, which can have adverse effects on their respiratory health. Aim: to estimate the prevalence and patterns of respiratory morbidity among seed processing workers in Hooghly district, West Bengal, India, and to explore their use of respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE).

Methods

A cross sectional observational study was conducted in 5 seed processing plants from December 2022 to February 2023. A sample size of 129 workers was selected using probability proportionate to population size to select seed processing plants and simple random sampling to select workers at selected plants. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, occupational profile, substance use patterns, respiratory PPE use, and respiratory symptoms were collected through structured interviews. Spirometry was performed with a hand held tabletop spirometer (RMS Helios 401) to assess respiratory function.

Results

52.7% of participants reported at least one chronic respiratory symptom, while 17.1% had evident respiratory morbidity based on spirometry results, with most having restrictive patterns (10.1%). Multivariable regression analysis revealed that factors associated with respiratory morbidity included increasing work years of exposure [1.10 (1.02 1.18)], irregular use of respiratory PPE [4.36 (1.22 15.57)], and primary or below education level [6.09 (1.38 26.98)].

Conclusion

The study highlights the high prevalence of respiratory symptoms and morbidity among seed processing workers. It emphasizes the importance of implementing effective respiratory protection measures and raising awareness about occupational lung diseases in this industry. Further research and interventions are needed to improve the respiratory health and well being of seed processing workers.

Contributions of meat waste decomposition to the abundance and diversity of pathogens and antibiotic-resistance genes in the atmosphere

Airborne transmission of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) in landfill and acquisition of antibiotic resistance by pathogenic bacteria are posing potential threat to human and environmental health. However, little is known about contribution of waste decomposition to airborne ARGs and pathogens during landfilling of household waste. Herein, the dynamic changes of microbial communities and ARGs were comparatively investigated in leachate and bioaerosol during the decomposition of chicken, fish, and pork wastes. Results found that chicken and pork decomposition could result in emitting high abundance of bioaerosol and pathogen, while fish fermentation will lead to high airborne microbial activity. The main pathogens were Bacilli, Burkholderia-Paraburkholderia and Mycobacterium in bioaerosols, but were Wohlfahrtiimonas, Peptoniphilus and Fusobacterium in leachate, suggesting that the ability of aerosolization of bacteria in leachate was independent of their abundance and diversity. Whereas, diversity and relative abundance of ARGs in leachate were significantly higher than bioaerosol. Moreover, the relative abundance of ARGs in leachate and bioaerosols was not completely relevant. The changes of pathogenic community contributed significantly to the prevalence of ARGs in bioaerosol and leachate. The results will define the contribution of household waste decomposition to airborne pathogen and ARG distribution and provide foundation for airborne bacterial exposure risk and control in landfill.

On the interpretation of bioaerosol exposure measurements and impacts on health

Bioaerosols are recognized as one of the main transmission routes for infectious diseases and are responsible for other various types of health effects through inhalation and potential ingestion. Associating exposure with bioaerosol and health problems is challenging, and adequate exposure monitoring is a top priority for aerosol scientists. The multiple factors affecting bioaerosol content, the variability in the focus of each bioaerosol exposure study, and the variations in experimental design and the standardization of methods make bioaerosol exposure studies very difficult. Therefore, the health impacts of bioaerosol exposure are still poorly understood. This paper presents a brief description of a state-of-the-art development in bioaerosol exposure studies supported by studies on several related subjects. The main objective of this paper is to propose new considerations for bioaerosol exposure guidelines and the development of tools and study designs to better interpret bioaerosol data. The principal observations and findings are the discrepancy of the applicable methods in bioaerosol studies that makes result comparison impossible. Furthermore, the silo mentality helps in creating a bigger gap in the knowledge accumulated about bioaerosol exposure. Innovative and original ideas are presented for aerosol scientists and health scientists to consider and discuss. Although many examples cited herein are from occupational exposure, the discussion has relevance to any human environment. This work gives concrete suggestions for how to design a full bioaerosol study that includes all of the key elements necessary to help understand the real impacts of bioaerosol exposure in the short term. The creation of the proposed bioaerosol public database could give crucial information to control the public health. Implications: How can we move toward a bioaerosol exposure guidelines? The creation of the bioaerosol public database will help accumulate information for long-term association studies and help determine specific exposure biomarkers to bioaerosols. The implementation of such work will lead to a deeper understanding and more efficient utilization of bioaerosol studies to prevent public health hazards.