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PubMed2005

Implementation of the semi-aerobic landfill system (Fukuoka method) in developing countries: a Malaysia cost analysis.

Most of the existing solid waste landfill sites in developing countries are practicing either open dumping or controlled dumping. Proper sanitary landfill concepts are not fully implemented due to technological and financial constraints. Implementation of a fully engineered sanitary landfill is necessary and a more economically feasible landfill design is crucial, particularly for developing countries. This study was carried out by focusing on the economics from the development of a new landfill site within a natural clay area with no cost of synthetic liner up to 10 years after its closure by using the Fukuoka method semi-aerobic landfill system. The findings of the study show that for the development of a 15-ha landfill site in Malaysia with an estimated volume of 2,000,000 m(3), the capital investment required was about US 1,312,895 dollars, or about US 0.84 dollars/tonne of waste. Assuming that the lifespan of the landfill is 20 years, the total cost of operation was about US 11,132,536 dollars or US 7.15 dollars/tonne of waste. The closure cost of the landfill was estimated to be US 1,385,526 dollars or US 0.89 dollars/tonne of waste. Therefore, the total cost required to dispose of a tonne of waste at the semi-aerobic landfill was estimated to be US 8.89 dollars. By considering an average tipping fee of about US 7.89 dollars/tonne of waste in Malaysia in the first year, and an annual increase of 3% to about US 13.84 dollars in year-20, the overall system recorded a positive revenue of US 1,734,749 dollars. This is important information for the effort of privatisation of landfill sites in Malaysia, as well as in other developing countries, in order to secure efficient and effective landfill development and management.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed2004

A historical context of municipal solid waste management in the United States.

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in the United States is a system comprised of regulatory, administrative, market, technology, and social subcomponents, and can only be understood in the context of its historical evolution. American cities lacked organized public works for street cleaning, refuse collection, water treatment, and human waste removal until the early 1800s. Recurrent epidemics forced efforts to improve public health and the environment. The belief in anticontagionism led to the construction of water treatment and sewerage works during the nineteenth century, by sanitary engineers working for regional public health authorities. This infrastructure was capital intensive and required regional institutions to finance and administer it. By the time attention turned to solid waste management in the 1880s, funding was not available for a regional infrastructure. Thus, solid waste management was established as a local responsibility, centred on nearby municipal dumps. George Waring of New York City organized solid waste management around engineering unit operations; including street sweeping, refuse collection, transportation, resource recovery and disposal. This approach was adopted nationwide, and was managed by City Departments of Sanitation. Innovations such as the introduction of trucks, motorized street sweepers, incineration, and sanitary landfill were developed in the following decades. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), is the defining legislation for MSWM practice in America today. It forced the closure of open dumps nationwide, and required regional planning for MSWM. The closure of municipal dumps caused a 'garbage crisis' in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Private companies assumed an expanded role in MSWM through regional facilities that required the transportation of MSW across state lines. These transboundary movements of MSW created the issue of flow control, in which the US Supreme Court affirmed the protection of garbage under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Thus MSWM in America today is largely managed by municipalities, and operated by a relatively small number of private companies. It consists of a mixture of landfill, incineration, recycling, and composting, and is regulated under RCRA, the Clean Air Act and other related federal and state laws.

Cities↗
PubMed1996

Industrial Counseling: Linking Occupational and Environmental Health in Tanneries of Kanpur, India.

This paper describes an occupational health program in tanneries in Kanpur, India. The program was instituted as part of a bilateral cooperative effort of India and The Netherlands focusing on providing engineering solutions to prevent industrial waste and community sewage from polluting the Ganges river. The occupational health program was linked to the environmental activities by adopting the concept of industrial counseling. This method aims to increase production and product quality of enterprises and at the same time improve working conditions in these enterprises. The tanneries in Kanpur were targeted for industrial counseling by the Indo-Dutch Environmental and Sanitary Engineering Project Kanpur- Mirzapur under the Ganga Action Plan. Recovery of chrome from wastewater, automation of hydraulic press machines, use of an air-pollution-prevention system in the spray-painting section, and automation of transport are examples of measures used to increase productivity and improve leather quality. Working conditions were improved by adding local exhaust ventilation, mechanizing material transfer, instituting safer procedures for storage and use of toxic materials, and introducing breathing apparatus for operations done in confined spaces to prevent hydrogen sulfide intoxication. The linkage of occupational health problems to environmental issues proved to be effective in drawing attention to working conditions. Also, the application of simple survey techniques to identify and evaluate environmental and occupational hazards substantially increased awareness of these hazards and comprehension of the need to adopt changes among employers, workers, and occupational health professionals. The article discusses the core elements of this successful program.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Evolutionary health promotion.

Health promotion's promise is enormous, but its potential is, as yet, unmatched by accomplishment. Life expectancy increases track more closely with economic prosperity and sanitary engineering than with strictly medical advances. Notable achievements in the past century--the decreased incidences of epidemic infections, dental caries, and stomach cancer--are owed to virologists, dentists, and (probably) refrigeration more than to physicians. Prevention speaks against tobacco abuse with a single voice, but in many other areas contradictory research findings have generated skepticism and even indifference among the general public for whom recommendations are targeted. Health promotion's shortcomings may reflect lack of an overall conceptual framework, a deficiency that might be corrected by adopting evolutionary premises: (1) The human genome was selected in past environments far different from those of the present. (2) Cultural evolution now proceeds too rapidly for genetic accommodation--resulting in dissociation between our genes and our lives. (3) This mismatch between biology and lifestyle fosters development of degenerative diseases. These principles could inform a research agenda and, ultimately, public policy: (1) Better characterize differences between ancient and modern life patterns. (2) Identify which of these affect the development of disease. (3) Integrate epidemiological, mechanistic, and genetic data with evolutionary principles to create an overarching formulation upon which to base persuasive, consistent, and effective recommendations.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed2004

Outbreaks of Gastrointestinal Diseases on Cruise Ships: Lessons from Three Decades of Progress.

Dramatic improvements in sanitary engineering and, especially, operational procedures aboard cruise ships began in the mid-1970s after several large outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program, working with the cruise industry, conducts ship inspections, provides public access to ship sanitation scores, and reports outbreak investigations. The significant increase in median ship sanitation scores over the past decade has been concomitant with a reduction in outbreak frequency to 3.7 per 1000 cruises. Most outbreaks of the past decade were linked to noroviruses (Norwalk-like viruses), enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, or the residual "unknown" causes. Although norovirus outbreaks may begin as foodborne or waterborne disease, easy person-to-person transmission occurs through fecal- or vomitus-splattered surfaces, other items, clothing, and especially, hands. Control of person-to-person spread of illness among crew and passengers becomes the major objective. Rigorous handwashing, environmental disinfection, and other food service job-related restrictions are required to prevent multiple outbreaks on the same ship. Vigilance by public health and industry officials has prevented many thousands of illnesses and some associated deaths. Clinicians providing pretravel health advice and post-travel diagnoses and care can benefit from and contribute to epidemiologic investigations and thereby enhance the health of cruise passengers individually and collectively.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1991

Occupational health and the environment in an urban slum in India.

The Indo-Dutch Environmental & Sanitary Engineering Project under the Ganga action Plan in Kanpur and Mirzapur is being executed within the Indo-Dutch bilateral development cooperation framework. The project aims to integrate physical, social and health related improvements. It is expected that the development approach and methodology can be replicated in other urban settlements in India. The project is being supplemented by a training and institutional strengthening programme to facilitate the transfer of new technologies and improvement of operation and maintenance of the new facilities. The project is also aimed at the improvement of the living conditions of the population, by installing drinking water and drainage systems. A socio-economic unit in the project supports the technical interventions by enhancing the community to participate in project activities. The Occupational Health Programme in Jajmau, an industrial slum of Kanpur, aims to improve the working conditions of tannery workers. Four hundred and ninety-seven tannery workers and 80 employees not engaged in leather work, from 20 tanneries, were interviewed and underwent physical examination. The mean age of tannery workers was 32 years, about half of them recently migrated to Kanpur. The majority of the workers are illiterate, have temporary jobs and 85% have a monthly income between 300 and 600 Rs. Occupational morbidity was 28.2%. Regular meetings with tannery owners, the training of tannery workers in first aid, and support for the installation of safety and health councils in tanneries are the main programme activities.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1992

An occupational health programme for adults and children in the carpet weaving industry, Mirzapur, India: a case study in the informal sector.

The Indo-Dutch Environmental and Sanitary Engineering Project under Ganga action Plan in Kanpur and Mirzapur is being executed within the framework of Indo-Dutch bilateral development cooperation. The project aims to integrate technological, social and health related improvements. It is expected that the development approach and methodology can be replicated in other urban settlements in India. The project is being supplemented by a training and institutional strengthening programme, which will facilitate the transfer of new technologies and improvements in operation and maintenance of these new technologies. One of the project's goals is to improve living conditions in the targeted areas by installing drinking water and drainage systems. A socio-economic unit (SEU) in the project supports these technical interventions by encouraging the community to participate in project activities. The Occupational Health Programme in Mirzapur was conceived by the SEU to improve the health and living conditions of child and adult weavers. At the start of the programme, 200 weavers and 60 non-weaver workers from Mirzapur city, matched for age and socio-economic status, were interviewed and underwent a physical examination. The mean age of the weavers is 27 years, reflecting the relatively large percentage of child labour (13.5%). Illiteracy among them is 73%, whereas 14% have had only a primary education. 64.5% of the carpet weavers are Muslims and 35.6% are Hindus. 61% own a loom or work in a family owned loom shed. 95% of the weavers have a monthly income of less than 600 Rs. Complaints of a persistent cough and cough with expectoration, backache, the common cold and joint pains occurred more often in the weaver population than in the comparison group and have been identified as 'occupational hazards'. An intervention programme has been implemented based on the results of the occupational health survey. These interventions include awareness camps, installment of plexiglass tiles for light improvement in the loom sheds, training of community health volunteers and house-to-house health education. Another essential part of the programme is the provision of functional literacy classes for child and adult labourers in the carpet weaving industry. Occupational health as an entry point proved to be a successful approach in this segment of the informal sector, where child labour plays an important role.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

A field of great promise: soil bacteriology in America, 1900-1925.

In the first decades of the 20th century, soil bacteriologists promised to revolutionize farming practice, much in the same way that medical bacteriologists, in the previous century, had transformed pathology, public health and sanitary engineering. Following the isolation of the microorganisms responsible for nitrification and nitrogen fixation, American soil scientists anticipated the time when farmers could 'seed' their crops and lands with these beneficial bacteria. Soil bacteriologists, during the early 20th century, never fulfilled the promise of supplying a biological source of unending soil fertility. However, in their search for productive microbes, these same researchers directed attention to the underappreciated dimensions of bacterial metabolism and microbial ecology.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2001

Assessment of ground water vulnerability and its application to the development of protection strategy for the water supply aquifer in Owerri, Southeastern Nigeria.

Pollution vulnerability of the Owerri regional water supply aquifer was evaluated as a basis for developing appropriate protection strategy for the groundwater resource. The assessment was accomplished using Legrand, GOD, Siga and DRASTIC models. Techniques of the models generally involved parameters rating and point count systems, which are based on the evaluation of various parameter in relation to their capacity for enhancing or attenuating contaminants in the groundwater system. Field and laboratory evaluations of the parameters indicate that the Owerri area generally occupies a nearly, flat topography with a relatively high groundwater recharge. The area is underlain by predominantly sandy facies in the Northern area which grades into gravelly sequences towards the southwest. The Southeastern area is distinguished by thick clayey facies that thin westwards towards the Owerri metropolis. Effective hydraulic conductivity (Kz) in the downward direction ranges from 1.44 x 10(-3) to 5.6 x 10(-9) m s(-1); with the upper limits reflecting coarse sands and gravelly units. The amount of clay and clay-size particles in the sandy and gravelly units is negligible, suggesting that the sorptive capacity of the units is low. Depth to water table decreases southwards while hydraulic head gradients vary between 0.09 and 0.22. Groundwater occurs in unconfined conditions in most places except in the southeastern zone where it is semi-confined due to the presence of a clayey unit. The groundwater vulnerability map developed on the basis of the models and several other thematic maps shows that the Owerri metropolis and the southwest area of Owerri have high vulnerability, indicating groundwater pollution. The existing waste disposal sites in these sub-areas should be abandoned and rehabilitated to forstall further pollution of the groundwater system. Areas to the North and Southeast of Owerri have moderate and low vulnerabilities, respectively, indicating the relatively lower sensitivity of the groundwater system in the sub-areas to contamination. The lower sensitivity could further be matched with properly engineered sanitary landfills in the event of choice of sites, as an additional protective strategy for the groundwater system.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1989

Florence Nightingale and the India sanitary reforms.

After the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale persisted in researching the health conditions of British troops throughout the Empire. Undaunted by geographic limitations, she surveyed and publicized data that documented the mismanagement of living conditions and health care among the occupational forces on the Indian continent. Nightingale proposed widespread changes in the reporting of military health status and biostatistics, in sanitary engineering, and in self-care activities. With dogged persistence, she continued to gather follow-up data to measure the changing health status of soldiers in a land she never saw.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed1966

Examination of Feces from Food Handlers for Salmonellae, Shigellae, Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, and Clostridium perfringens.

Duplicate fecal specimens from food handlers were collected in Louisiana. One set of specimens was examined immediately for salmonellae and shigellae by the Central Laboratory of the Louisiana State Board of Health in New Orleans; the other set was shipped to the Food Microbiology Unit at the Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where it was examined for enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EEC) and Clostridium perfringens. A total of 219 specimens were examined by both laboratories. None yielded salmonellae or shigellae; 171 (78.1%) yielded C. perfringens; 175 (79.9%) yielded E. coli; and 14 (6.4%) yielded EEC. The 14 isolates of EEC were distributed among eight serotypes; one specimen yielded two serotypes. Multiple isolations of C. perfringens strains (two to four) were made from 64 (37.4%) of the specimens, and a total of 244 strains were isolated and studied for identifying characteristics. Of the total, only 87 (35.5%) could be identified serologically by a battery of 67 antisera; only 4 (1.6%) possessed the characteristics of the English "food-poisoning type." The hemolytic activity on agar containing horse, ox, or sheep blood showed that 140 (57.1%) were "hemolytic," 81 (33.1%) were "nonhemolytic," and 23 (9.8%) gave varied results. Only 12 (4.9%) of the strains produced spores that resisted boiling for 30 min or more.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1962

Interrelationships among ECHO virus types 1,8, and 12.

Berg, Gerald (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), Norman A. Clarke, and Paul W. Kabler. Interrelationships among ECHO virus types 1, 8, and 12. J. Bacteriol. 83:556-560. 1962.-Antigenic relationships among ECHO 1, 8, and 12 viruses were investigated. Three strains of ECHO 1 virus, one of which had been purified, could not be differentiated by neutralization tests. Antiserums produced with these three strains neutralized ECHO 12 virus. The neutralizing material, absent from preimmunization serums, was not absorbed by rhesus kidney cells, was heat-stable, and, therefore, may be viral antibody. Reciprocal neutralization was achieved with all three types. Disagreement of these data with those published by others is discussed.

Enterovirus B, Human↗
PubMed1963

QUANTITATION OF VIRUSES BY THE PLAQUE TECNHIQUE.

Berg, Gerald (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), Eugene K. Harris, Shih L. Chang, and Kenneth A. Busch. Quantitation of viruses by the plaque technique. J. Bacteriol. 85:691-700. 1963.-This paper presents the results of a study on overcrowding as it occurred with several strains of enteroviruses on monkey kidney cell layers. Each cell sheet area was 4,500 mm(2). Dispersion analysis of all plaque counts in the study revealed that the percentage error, in the absence of overcrowding, fluctuated within a range of 7 to 36% about a mean value of about 17%, which is close to what is expected from purely statistical variation in sampling. Overcrowding with Mahoney virus, a mixture of particles producing either rapidly or slowly expanding plaques, resulted primarily from the obscuring effect produced as rapidly expanding plaques obliterated infected foci produced by virus particles responsible for slow-forming plaques. Overcrowding occurred at plaque levels in excess of 35 to 40 per cell sheet. Overcrowding with Mahoney LP virus, a strain derived from a rapidly expanding Mahoney plaque which produced uniformly expanding plaques, did not occur until counts in excess of 60 to 70 per cell sheet were reached. Plaque obscuring was again responsible. Apparent overcrowding with Coxsackie A9 virus, when plaques were not permanently marked from the first day of counting, resulted from coalescence at levels above about 40 to 50 plaques per cell sheet. When plaques were permanently marked, overcrowding resulted from plaque obscuring which did not occur until levels in excess of about 120 per cell sheet were reached.

Enterovirus↗
PubMed1963

CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS STRAINS ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD AND FOOD-BORNE DISEASE.

Hall, Herbert E. (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), Robert Angelotti, Keith H. Lewis, and Milton J. Foter. Characteristics of Clostridium perfringens strains associated with food and food-borne disease. J. Bacteriol. 85:1094-1103. 1963.-A total of 83 strains of Clostridium perfringens-30 from England, Europe, and Asia, associated with food-poisoning outbreaks; 28 from the United States, associated with outbreaks or contaminated foods; and 25 from natural or pathological sources-have been studied to determine their serological relationships, sporulation and heat-resistance of spores, and their hemolytic activity on mammalian bloods. A comparison of the results obtained with these three groups of strains reveals that the Eurasian group is characterized by serological typability, poor sporulation with the production of heat-resistant spores, and a hemolytic activity limited to the production of partial hemolysis on horse, ox, and sheep bloods, whereas the strains from natural and pathological sources in this country are not serologically typable, sporulate well but the spores are not heat-resistant, and are hemolytically active, producing both partial and complete hemolysis on horse, ox, and sheep bloods. The American food-poisoning strains have a wide variety of characteristics. Some strains resemble the Eurasian in their serological typability and the production of heat-resistant spores, but sporulation and hemolytic activity are more like the strains from classical sources. On the basis of these data, it appears unlikely that C. perfringens food-poisoning outbreaks in the United States are restricted to strains meeting the criteria of classification described by British workers and that the isolation of large numbers of any strain of this organism from an incriminated food must be considered as having a possible bearing on the etiology of the outbreak.

Animals↗
PubMed1964

MICROBIAL METABOLISM OF AROMATIC COMPOUNDS. I. DECOMPOSITION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS AND AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS BY PHENOL-ADAPTED BACTERIA.

Tabak, Henry H. (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), Cecil W. Chambers, and Paul W. Kabler. Microbial metabolism of aromatic carbon compounds. I. Decomposition of phenolic compounds and aromatic hydrocarbons by phenol-adapted bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 87:910-919. 1964.-Bacteria from soil and related environments were selected or adapted to metabolize phenol, hydroxy phenols, nitrophenols, chlorophenols, methylphenols, alkylphenols, and arylphenols when cultured in mineral salts media with the specific substrate as the sole source of carbon. A phenol-adapted culture (substrate-induced enzyme synthesis proven) was challenged in respirometric tests with 104 related compounds; probable significant oxidative activity occurred with 65. Dihydric phenols were generally oxidized; trihydric phenols were not. Cresols and dimethylphenols were oxidized; adding a chloro group increased resistance. Benzoic and hydroxybenzoic acids were oxidized; sulfonated, methoxylated, nitro, and chlorobenzoic acids were not; m-toluic acid was utilized but not the o- and p-isomers. Benzaldehyde and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde were oxidized. In general, nitro- and chloro-substituted compounds and the benzenes were difficult to oxidize.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1964

GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BLUE-GREEN ALGAL VIRUS LPP-1.

Safferman, Robert S. (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), and Mary-Ellen Morris. Growth characteristics of the blue-green algal virus LPP- 1. J. Bacteriol. 88:771-775. 1964.-The blue-green algal (BGA) virus, strain LPP-1, formed two distinct plaque variants. During subsequent propagation, each of the isolated variants eventually reverted to a mixture of both plaque types. The large-plaque-former, multiplying at a somewhat faster rate, showed maximal virus production within 60 hr after infection; maximal titer of the small-plaque mutant was reached after a 76-hr incubation period. No differences were observed in either their host spectra or their pH and thermal stability. Evidence was presented which demonstrated that BGA virus samples could be assayed with reasonable accuracy from plaque counts. Variations resulting from this plating technique were within the range of experimental error that has been generally reported for such a system.

Cyanobacteria↗
PubMed1966

Serological studies of types A, B, and E botulinal toxins by passive hemagglutination and bentonite flocculation.

Johnson, H. M. (Robert A. Taft Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio), K. Brenner, R. Angelotti, and H. E. Hall. Serological studies of types A, B, and E botulinal toxins by passive hemagglutination and bentonite flocculation. J. Bacteriol. 91:967-974. 1966.-Formalinized sheep red blood cells (SRBC), sensitized with types A, B, and E botulinal toxoids and toxins by bis-diazotized benzidine (BDB), were tested against A, B, and E antitoxins prepared in horses and rabbits. Type B antitoxin cross-reacted with A toxoid SRBC, but the reciprocal cross-reaction was not observed. E toxin SRBC were specifically agglutinated by E antitoxin. Flocculation of antigen-sensitized bentonite particles was less sensitive in titration of antitoxin than hemagglutination. Also, reciprocal cross-reactions were observed between types A and B antitoxins. Cross-reactions in both serological tests were eliminated by titration of antitoxins in the presence of the heterologous antigens, with no inhibitory effect on the homologous antitoxins. Generally, equine antitoxins were less suitable for agglutinations, especially of antigen-sensitized bentonite particles. Types A, B, and E antitoxins were specifically inhibited by 43, 39, and 245 mouse ld(50) of their respective homologous toxins in the hemagglutination-inhibition test. A, B, and E antitoxins were specifically inhibited by 500, 950, and 1,500 mouse ld(50) of their respective homologous toxins in bentonite flocculation inhibitions. Formalinized SRBC sensitized with rabbit types A and B antitoxins by BDB were respectively clumped by as little as 0.75 to 1.3 mouse ld(50) of A toxin and 2.3 ld(50) of B toxin, whereas bentonite particles sensitized by the same antitoxins were specifically clumped by 150 ld(50) of A toxin and 630 ld(50) of B toxin. E antitoxin sensitization of SRBC or bentonite particles was not successful. Evidence is presented that indicates that the serological procedures are applicable to the detection of botulinal toxins in food.

Animals↗