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CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON INFECTIOUS DISEASE AGENTS IN SEWAGE SLUDGE AND MANURE
Citation:
SMITH, J. E. CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON INFECTIOUS DISEASE AGENTS IN SEWAGE SLUDGE AND MANURE. J.E. Smith Jr., P.D. Millner, W. Jakubowski, N. Goldstein, R. Rynk (ed.), Special Edition. The JG Press, Inc., Emmaus, PA, (2005).
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
The USEPA and the USDA convened a three-day Workshop on Emerging Infectious Disease Agents and Issues Associated with Sewage Sludge, Animal Manures, and Other Organic By-Products on June 4-6, 2001 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The purpose of the workshop was to review and discuss the effectiveness of by-products treatment and land application practices as they relate to the destruction, survival, and fate of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease agents given the available scientific information on the subject. The workshop reviews and summarizes the status of available data on the subtopics (bacteria, viruses, and parasites), identified gaps in information and provided suggestions to address the critically important gaps. The need for data inputs to address specific microbial risk assessment approaches being applied was acknowledged as an important, underlying commonality. Considerable portions of the presentations and subsequent discussions were devoted to the state of the analytical methods and techniques used for sampling, detection and quantification, relative to the demonstration of disinfection by various treatment technologies. Supporting details about the microorganisms, including their fate and transport, appropriateness of indicator organisms, and comparative advantages and disadvantages of various treatment technologies used in the US and Europe, are provided in the corresponding chapters that follow. Several presentations described how disinfection and environmental data are used to conduct microbial risk assessments, quantitatively, semi-quantitatively, or qualitatively, in either a static or dynamic context (i.e., accounting for host immune status and development of secondary infections). Finally, the critical types of data that are needed for future risk assessments were described. Individuals with extensive technical expertise in a range of relevant supporting subtopics (bacteriology, parasitology, virology, public health, veterinary science, risk assessment, regulatory policy, environmental and wastewater engineering (participated in the review and discussion sessions. Workgroup sessions involving 12 to 15 participants each followed a series of oral reviews and perspectives. These work sessions focused initially on ranking the infectious disease agents of greatest prevalence and concern, then on the construction of a matrix of the strengths, weaknesses, and critical gaps in knowledge, detection, and treatment technologies. The matrices summarized key aspects of the issues for each agent. The broader scientific and technical communities, as well as decision-makers, can use this information to evaluate and prioritize needs and to focus future research and development efforts. Discussion sessions were used to exchange ideas on how to address information gaps and unresolved issues and to suggest areas for potential research, development, and collaboration.