Parasite Contamination of Sand and Soil from Daycare Sandboxes and Play Areas

Objectives: To determine if there was parasite contamination in the sand and soil in daycare sandboxes and play areas, with the goal of developing practice guidelines for their management.Methods: One hundred samples of sand and soil from 10 daycare centres in different regions of the province of Quebec, collected between April 22 and May 6, 1991, were examined.Results: Toxocara eggs were found in both surface and subsurface sand from two Montreal centres and co-occurred withAscarisspecies (surface sand) in one centre and with hookworm (surface soil) in the second. Hookworm eggs were also recovered from one centre in the Quebec City region.Conclusions: These results document the presence of potentially pathogenic helminth parasites in the daycare environment. Evidence from the literature regarding the health risk to children is insufficient and highlights the need for further research into the assessment of the risk of human infection and morbidity, the viability of these parasites under different environmental conditions and practical issues related to the management of sand and soil.

Download Full-text

Parasite Contamination of Sand and Soil From Day-Care Sandboxes and Play Areas

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.94.6.1027a ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 94 (6) ◽

pp. 1027-1028

Author(s):

Theresa W. Gyorkos ◽

Evelyne Kokoskin ◽

J. Dick Maclean ◽

Julio C. Soto

Keyword(s):

Health Risk ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Day Care ◽

Human Infection ◽

Helminth Parasites ◽

Care Environment

These results document the presence of potentially pathogenic zoonotic helminth parasites in the day-care environment. Evidence from the literature regarding the health risk to children is insufficient and highlights the need for further research assessing the risk of human infection and subsequent morbidity, the viability of these parasites under different environmental conditions, and practical issues related to the management of sand and soil.

Download Full-text

Faculty Opinions recommendation of A multi-perspective approach for defining neighbourhood units in the context of a study on health inequalities in the Quebec City region.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1098587.554688 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Irene Yen

Keyword(s):

Health Inequalities ◽

Quebec City ◽

City Region

Download Full-text

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface soil from the Guan River Estuary in China: Contamination, source apportionment and health-risk assessment

ScienceAsia ◽

10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2020.013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 80

Author(s):

Yingpeng Yua ◽

Xiaoxiang Sun ◽

Lili Zou ◽

Huabing Zhang ◽

Yuqing Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽

Health Risk ◽

Source Apportionment ◽

Health Risk Assessment ◽

Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽

Surface Soil ◽

River Estuary ◽

Contamination Source ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic

Download Full-text

Radioactive Contamination due to 241Am Lightning Rod Failure

HNPS Proceedings ◽

10.12681/hnps.2976 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 262

Author(s):

K. L. Karfopoulos ◽

G. N. Papadakos ◽

D. J. Karangelos ◽

P. K. Rouni ◽

N. P. Petropoulos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Risk ◽

Gamma Ray ◽

Surface Soil ◽

Collection Efficiency ◽

Drainage System ◽

Radioactive Material ◽

Building Roof ◽

The Public ◽

The People

It is estimated that until 1978 about 200000 lightning conductor rods with -a emitting sources attached to their end were installed worldwide. The sources were supposed to increase the lighting collection efficiency of these rods through the ionization of the surrounding air. Nevertheless, this improvement has never been established conclusively. Such devices are, in most cases, not accessible by the pub- lic; therefore, the dose to the population is considered insignificant. However, the possibility of radioactive material leakage, due to the source attachment failure, and the subsequent contamination of the surroundings that could lead to possible health risk of the public cannot be excluded. In this work, the case of 241Am contamination due to a lightning rod conductor failure is investigated. This contamination was accidentally detected on the surface soil around a laboratory building in the National Technical University of Athens Campus, during a routine in-situ gamma-ray measurement campaign that took place in 2003. A detailed survey revealed that this 241Am contamination was due to the leakage from two lightning rods on the building roof. Consequently the rods were removed from the building and the contamination pattern on the roof and on the surface soil around the building was examined in detail. From the results obtained so far it may be concluded that there exists well localized contamination on the roof and also around the building. It was established that the pathway through which contamination reached the ground was the rainwater drainage system of the building. The gamma ray dose rate due to 241Am contamination found on the roof and on the surface soil is low compared to that due to its natural radioactivity and does not seem to pose any health risk to the people working in the building or to the public.

Download Full-text

Climatic effects on Salmonella survival in plant and soil irrigated with artificially inoculated wastewater: preliminary results

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2001.0720 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 43 (12) ◽

pp. 103-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

M. P. Palacios ◽

P. Lupiola ◽

M. T. Tejedor ◽

E. Del-Nero ◽

A. Pardo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Risk ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Management Practices ◽

Disease Incidence ◽

Field Conditions ◽

Natural Soil ◽

Wastewater Management ◽

Secondary Effluent ◽

Waterborne Diseases ◽

Agricultural Field

The use of wastewater to replace other water resources for irrigation is highly dependent on whether the health risk and environmental impacts entailed are acceptable or not. Total count and species of microorganisms found in wastewater vary widely because of climatic conditions, season, population sanitary habits and disease incidence. Salmonella, one of the genera associated with waterborne diseases, lives in the intestine. Thus, it is widely accepted that they have a limited survival period under environmental conditions. Wastewater management practices and the ability of Salmonella to survival under field conditions would determine the health risk associated with its presence in wastewater. Although chlorination is widely used, there are situations in which Salmonella is able to survive the sudden stress imposed by this technique. The aim of this experiment was to contribute to the study of the climatic and soil effects on pathogen survival under agricultural field conditions in order to assess which were the best wastewater management practices from both health and economic points of view. Five pots filled with soil seeded with Medicago sativa and an automatic weather station were used. A secondary effluent was artificially inoculated with Salmonella. In addition, open plates (filled with sterilised soil) and ultraviolet radiation isolated plates (filled with non-sterilised soil) were used. As soil heat emission contributes to the environmental conditions around the bacteria, standardised meteorological temperature data had to be carefully used in the bacterial survival studies under agricultural conditions. Radiation was the main cause of Salmonella mortality as its effect was more important than natural soil bacteria competence. Higher reduction of Salmonella counts could have been associated with longer spring days. Soil was able to effectively remove Salmonella. Subsurface drip irrigation methods could provide an effective tool to prevent health risk associated with wastewater irrigation.

Download Full-text