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Microbial contamination exposure assessment in waste collector trucks
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Resumo(s)
The recent public health challenges pushed by climate and demographic changes,
including increased waste production, forced adjustments to the waste collection system. These
adjustments reach the sustainability goals set by WHO and care for a better risk assessment and
management. The increasing conditions for microbial growth put waste handlers and collectors
at a higher risk of exposure. This study aims to assess microbial contamination in waste collection
trucks (WCT) and waste collection stations (WCS). A multi-approach methodology was applied
and included passive (swabs, electrostatic dust cloths, and settled dust) and active (impingement
and impaction air sampling) samples collection, and azole resistance screening. Molecular tools,
namely Real-Time PCR (qPCR), for Aspergillus sections detection and SARS-CoV-2 detection
were applied. Only WCS air samples showed contamination in all sampling sites (canteen,
operational removal core, operational removal center, and administrative service). In WCT, swab
samples had higher bacterial counts and Gram-negative counts percentage (66.93 %; 99.36 %).
The most common fungal species in WCS were Penicillium sp. (43.98 %) and Cladosporium sp.
(24.68 %), while on WCT, Aspergillus sp. showed to be also very prevalent (4.18 %). Aspergillus
sp. was identified in azole supplemented media. Fumigati section was detected in five samples
while SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any of the environmental samples.
Overall, besides active sampling methods, there should be applied passive sampling
methods, culture-based methods, and molecular tools in parallel. This approach will allow more
accurate results regarding microbial contamination, unveiling a complex microbial exposure
(bacteria and fungi). Aspergillus section Fumigati identification and detection is an extremely
important health risk factor to consider as a sentinel for hazardous fungal contamination in the
waste sorting industry. Although the lack of more detailed data on bacterial characterization, this
study provides more data for a precise risk assessment and further management in the waste
management industry.
Descrição
Tese de mestrado, Microbiologia Aplicada , 2022, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências
Palavras-chave
Exposição ocupacional Indústria de resíduos Veículos de recolha de resíduos Avaliação do risco Contaminação microbiana Teses de mestrado - 2022