Waterborne Pathogens and Human Health
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (11 December 2020) | Viewed by 403
Special Issue Editors
Interests: aquatic virology; enteric viruses; norovirus; fecal indicator bacteria; real-time PCR; viral survival; wastewater pollution; shellfish hygiene
Interests: enteric viruses; environmental surveillance; poliovirus; S. Typhi; pepper mild mottle virus; wastewater contamination; wastewater treatment; next-generation sequencing; (RT)-qPCR; endocrine disruptors
Special Issue Information
Dear colleagues,
Human pathogens, including bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, can enter the aquatic environment via irrigated agricultural fields, sewage treatment plants, septic tanks, land runoff, overwhelmed landfills, pit latrines, and open sewage channels. Some of these pathogens are able to survive in surface and groundwater bodies for prolonged periods of time, resulting in waterborne illnesses and outbreaks. There are well-known and characterised waterborne pathogens (e.g., Cryprosporidium, Giardia, E. coli, Campylobacter, norovirus, rotavirus); however, many novel and emerging strains circulate in the environment, and their survival and effect on human health are yet to be described.
Due to urbanisation and agricultural and industrial activities, an increasing number of pathogens enter the aquatic environment. The individual detection of each pathogen would be challenging due to the potentially low concentration of the pathogen of interest and the lack of assays detecting a broad range of pathogens. Therefore, indicator organisms (e.g., coliform bacteria) are often used for the surveillance of microbial contamination and risk management. However, the survival and transport of these organisms do not mimic the fate of all pathogens, and, the risks are often underestimated. There is a great need for novel indicators, which better represent the target pathogens, and their use would enable a more accurate description of human health risks. Additionally, novel applications of sampling, concentration, and detection methods to improve the concentration of pathogens in samples and to detect multiple targets simultaneously would be of great benefit.
In this Special Issue, we invite original research articles, case studies, and reviews on the detection, surveillance, and mitigation of emerging waterborne pathogens and potential novel indicators, which would help to improve current risk assessment and to protect public health.
Dr. Kata Farkas
Dr. Nicolette Zhou
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- emerging pathogens
- faecal indicators
- public health
- wastewater contamination
- microbial source tracking
- QMRA
- pathogen detection
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