scholarly journals Public Health Risks Associated with Heavy Metal and Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (20) ◽  
pp. 3982
Author(s):  
Paul J Molino ◽  
Richard Bentham ◽  
Michael J Higgins ◽  
Jason Hinds ◽  
Harriet Whiley
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Lead Exposure ◽  
Microbial Contamination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Health Burden ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
The Impact

Recently in Australia concerns have been raised regarding the contamination of municipal drinking water supplies with lead. This is of particular concern to children due to the impact of lead exposure on cognitive development and as such these findings have received much media attention. The response from legislators has been swift, and The Victorian School Building Authority has announced that all new schools and school upgrade works will only use lead-free tapware and piping systems. However, while the immediate replacement of lead-containing brass fittings may seem a logical and obvious response, it does not consider the potential implications on microbial contamination. This is particularly concerning given the increasing public health threat posed by opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs). This commentary explores this public health risk of lead exposure from plumbing materials compared to the potential public health risks from OPPPs. Non-tuberculous mycobacterium was chosen as the example OPPP, and the influence on plumbing material and its public health burden in Australia is explored. This commentary highlights the need for future research into the influence of plumbing material on OPPPs prior to any changes in legislation regarding plumbing material.

scholarly journals Representations of Free-Living and Unrestrained Dogs as an Emerging Public Health Issue in Australian Newspapers

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5807
Author(s):  
Chris Degeling ◽  
Julie Hall ◽  
Lily M. van Eeden ◽  
Summer M. Finlay ◽  
Suk Maya Gurung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Free Living ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

That dogs can live and breed as free-living animals contributes to public health risks including zoonotic transmission, dog bites, and compromising people’s sense of safety in public spaces. In Australia, free-living dog populations are comprised of domestic dogs, dingoes, and dog–dingo hybrids, and are described using various terms (for example, stray or community), depending on social or geographic context. Urban expansion and regional migration mean that risks associated with contact between humans and free-living dogs are increasing. Public health authorities, local governments, and community organisations have called for transdisciplinary partnerships to address dog-related health risks with a sustainable long-term approach. Values pluralism and a lack of sustained community engagement in affected areas have meant that the outcome of such efforts to date has been mixed. To identify ideas in public circulation about the impact of unrestrained and free-living dogs on human health and well-being, and understand the framework through which these animals are problematised and solutions are proposed in public discourse, we systematically examined coverage of these issues in print media. Our analyses indicate that reporting in Australian newspapers tends to frame the public health impacts of free-living dogs as problems of public order requiring direct government action to re-establish control. The public health impacts of free-living dog populations in Australia have complex causes that intersect at the nexus between human and canine behaviour, agricultural and land management practices, local bylaws, and efforts to conserve ecological systems. Placing responsibility on governments limits opportunities for greater community involvement in developing integrated One Health approaches. Better-quality evidence of the impacts of dog populations on community health and well-being, and broad community support are needed to reshape public debates on animal control, which, ultimately, will promote more effective approaches to mitigate dog-related public health risks at the human–animal–environment interface.

scholarly journals A qualitative study of the experiences and information needs of public health inspectors that inspect small drinking water systems in Ontario, Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-96
Author(s):  
Wendy Pons ◽  
Andria Jones-Bitton ◽  
Steven Lam ◽  
Scott A. McEwen ◽  
Katarina Pintar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Technical Ability ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Drinking Water Systems

Public health inspectors (PHIs) play an important role in enforcing the regulation and monitoring of approximately 9000 small noncommunity drinking water systems across Ontario. These small drinking water systems (SDWS) are diverse and face unique challenges. The purpose of this research was to explore PHIs’ insights and needs related to these SDWS in Ontario, Canada, to inform future policy and training initiatives to support safe drinking water. Data were collected through teleconference-conducted focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed and three major themes were found: the operator–PHI relationship, PHI training and information needs, and operational challenges. Overall, participants reported that they felt confident in their ability to inspect SDWSs. Main concerns to water safety were the technical ability of the water operator to manage their water supply and the impact of having a long time period between inspections of water systems. Future research should explore the cost-benefit of increasing inspection frequency in SDWSs and a variety of training and education initiatives for PHIs and operators of SDWSs.

scholarly journals The semantics and pragmatics of water notices and the impact on public health

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Rundblad
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Risk Behaviour ◽  
Prior Beliefs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Public Health Protection ◽  
The Impact

In communicating health risks to the public, it is essential that the message delivered is not misunderstood, as this can lead to risk behaviour. There has been much interest in risk communication and trust, but here we take this further by a cognitive and linguistic analysis of the intended and understood meanings of core words in drinking-water incidents. Based on a questionnaire study of 107 undergraduate UK students using the example of a ‘do not drink’ notice, we found that, although the majority (87.9%) would buy and drink bottled water, as many as 44% would still drink the polluted tapwater. Males and females would generally behave similarly; however, significantly more men would drink water straight from the tap. All in all, 78% of the population – males in particular – could potentially be at risk. We trace the risk behaviour to a misinterpretation of the words drink and not. Public health protection is generally perceived as the choosing of what is safe behaviour and informing the public of appropriate actions in the event of a crisis: however, communicators need to also address the words used to make up risk messages and the prior beliefs that they invoke.

scholarly journals Public Health Risks Associated with Tetrodotoxin and Its Analogues in European Waters: Recent Advances after The EFSA Scientific Opinion

Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katikou
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Portion Size ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
Marine Bivalves ◽  
Scientific Opinion ◽  
Human Intoxication

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) and its analogues are naturally occurring toxins responsible worldwide for human intoxication cases and fatalities, mainly associated with pufferfish consumption. In the last decade, TTXs were detected in marine bivalves and gastropods from European waters. As TTXs are not regulated or monitored at EU level, their unexpected occurrence in shellfish raised concerns as a food safety hazard and revealed the necessity of a thorough assessment on the public health risks associated with their presence. For this reason, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was requested by the European Commission to provide a scientific opinion, finally adopted in March 2017, according to which a provisional concentration below 44 μg TTX equivalents/kg shellfish meat, based on a large portion size of 400 g, was considered not to result in adverse effects in humans. The EFSA expert panel, however, recognized a number of shortcomings and uncertainties related to the unavailability of sufficient scientific data and provided relevant recommendations for future research to overcome these data gaps identified in order to further refine the risk assessment on TTXs. The present review aims to summarize the knowledge obtained towards addressing these recommendations in the two years following publication of the EFSA opinion, at the same time highlighting the points requiring further investigation.

scholarly journals Designer Benzodiazepines: A Review of Toxicology and Public Health Risks

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 560
Author(s):  
Pietro Brunetti ◽  
Raffaele Giorgetti ◽  
Adriano Tagliabracci ◽  
Marilyn A. Huestis ◽  
Francesco Paolo Busardò
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Adverse Events ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Drug Market ◽  
Driving Under The Influence ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
Drug Offense ◽  
Legal Sanctions ◽  
Designer Benzodiazepines

The rising use of designer benzodiazepines (DBZD) is a cat-and-mouse game between organized crime and law enforcement. Non-prohibited benzodiazepines are introduced onto the global drug market and scheduled as rapidly as possible by international authorities. In response, DBZD are continuously modified to avoid legal sanctions and drug seizures and generally to increase the abuse potential of the DBZD. This results in an unpredictable fluctuation between the appearance and disappearance of DBZD in the illicit market. Thirty-one DBZD were considered for review after consulting the international early warning database, but only 3-hydroxyphenazepam, adinazolam, clonazolam, etizolam, deschloroetizolam, diclazepam, flualprazolam, flubromazepam, flubromazolam, meclonazepam, phenazepam and pyrazolam had sufficient data to contribute to this scoping review. A total of 49 reports describing 1 drug offense, 2 self-administration studies, 3 outpatient department admissions, 44 emergency department (ED) admissions, 63 driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) and 141 deaths reported between 2008 and 2021 are included in this study. Etizolam, flualprazolam flubromazolam and phenazepam were implicated in the majority of adverse-events, drug offenses and deaths. However, due to a general lack of knowledge of DBZD pharmacokinetics and toxicity, and due to a lack of validated analytical methods, total cases are much likely higher. Between 2019 and April 2020, DBZD were identified in 48% and 83% of postmortem and DUID cases reported to the UNODC, respectively, with flualprazolam, flubromazolam and etizolam as the most frequently detected substances. DBZD toxicology, public health risks and adverse events are reported.

Metal Contamination of Oman Sea Seaweed and Its Associated Public Health Risks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Shahri ◽  
Mohammad Hossein Sayadi ◽  
Elham Yousefi ◽  
Mozhgan Savabieasfehani
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Risks ◽  
Metal Contamination ◽  
Public Health Risks ◽  
Oman Sea

scholarly journals Investigating Community Pharmacy Take Home Naloxone Dispensing during COVID-19: The Impact of One Public Health Crisis on Another

Pharmacy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
George Daskalakis ◽  
Ashley Cid ◽  
Kelly Grindrod ◽  
Michael A. Beazely
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
Pharmacy Technicians ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Overdose Deaths

A recent report found that the number of opioid-related deaths in Ontario in the first 15 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic was 38.2% higher than in the 15 weeks before the pandemic. Our study sought to determine if pharmacy professionals self-reported an increase or decrease in naloxone provision due to the pandemic and to identify adjustments made by pharmacy professionals to dispense naloxone during the pandemic. A total of 231 Ontario community pharmacy professionals completed an online survey. Pharmacy professionals’ barriers, facilitators, and comfort level with dispensing naloxone before and during the pandemic were identified. The sample consisted of mostly pharmacists (99.1%). Over half (51.1%) reported no change in naloxone dispensing, while 22.9% of respondents reported an increase and 24.7% a decrease. The most common adjustments made during the pandemic were training patients how to administer naloxone over video or phone, delivering naloxone kits, and pharmacy technicians offering naloxone at prescription intake. Over half (55%) of participants said the top barrier for dispensing was that patients did not request naloxone. Naloxone distribution through pharmacies could be further optimized to address the increased incidence of overdose deaths during the pandemic. Future research should investigate the reasons for changes in naloxone dispensing.

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