Associations between meteorological factors and COVID-19: a global scoping review.

Background: Many respiratory viruses and their associated diseases are sensitive to meteorological factors. For SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, evidence on this sensitivity is inconsistent. Understanding the influence of meteorological factors on SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 epidemiology can help to improve pandemic preparedness.

Long-term wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and variants at the major international passenger hub Amsterdam Schiphol Airport: A valuable addition to COVID-19 surveillance.

Wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance at municipal wastewater treatment plants has proven to play an important role in COVID-19 surveillance. Considering international passenger hubs contribute extensively to global transmission of viruses, wastewater surveillance at this type of location may be of added value as well. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of long-term wastewater surveillance at a large passenger hub as an additional tool for public health surveillance during different stages of a pandemic.

Risk mapping of respiratory viral transmission and disease severity using individual and environmental health parameters: A scoping review and protocol analysis.

Due to the impact respiratory viruses have on human health, a lot of data has been collected and visualised in tools such as dashboards that provide retrospective insights into the course of an epidemic or pandemic. Two well-known respiratory viruses, influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, are the causative agents of influenza and COVID-19, respectively. A scoping review was performed using Embase including data from January 2000 until April 2021 to identify individual and environmental health parameters that affect transmission of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, as well as disease severity (morbidity (hospitalisation) and mortality) of influenza and COVID-19.

Experiences from integrating water and sanitation safety planning in small systems in rural Serbia.

The WHO recommends a risk management approach to ensure safe drinking-water and sanitation, so-called Water Safety Planning and Sanitation Safety Planning. However, applying these risk management approaches separately in small-scale drinking-water supply and sanitation systems might be challenging for rural communities with limited human, financial, and administrative resources. An integrated approach seems a better option.

Inferring hospital admissions from SARS-CoV-2 virus loads in wastewater in The Netherlands, August 2020 - February 2022.

Wastewater-based surveillance enables tracking of SARS-CoV-2 circulation at a local scale in near-real time. Here we investigate the relation between virus loads and the number of hospital admissions in the Netherlands. Inferred virus loads from August 2020 until February 2022 in each of the 344 Dutch municipalities are analysed in a Bayesian multilevel Poisson regression to relate virus loads to daily age-stratified (in groups of 20 years) hospital admissions.

The resistome and microbiome of wastewater treatment plant workers - The AWARE study.

Urban wastewater treatment plants harbor a large collection of antibiotic resistant enteric bacteria. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that workers at such plants would possess a more diverse set of resistant enteric bacteria, compared to the general population. To address this hypothesis, we have compared the fecal microbiome and resistome of 87 workers at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from Romania and the Netherlands to those of 87 control individuals, using shotgun metagenomics.

Legionella detection in wastewater treatment plants with increased risk for Legionella growth and emission.

Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a severe pneumonia mainly caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila. Although many environmental sources of LD have been described, the sources of the majority of non-outbreak LD cases have not been identified. In several outbreaks in the Netherlands, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were identified as the most likely source of infection.

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Contracting COVID-19 Derived from Measured and Simulated Aerosol Particle Transmission in Aircraft Cabins.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 can be effectively transmitted between individuals located in close proximity to each other for extended durations. Aircraft provide such conditions. Although high attack rates during flights were reported, little was known about the risk levels of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in aircraft cabins.

Wastewater treatment plants, an "escape gate" for ESCAPE pathogens.

Antibiotics are an essential tool of modern medicine, contributing to significantly decreasing mortality and morbidity rates from infectious diseases. However, persistent misuse of these drugs has accelerated the evolution of antibiotic resistance, negatively impacting clinical practice. The environment contributes to both the evolution and transmission of resistance.

[Climate change and infectious diseases].

Climate change can contribute to a global increase in the burden of infectious diseases. Both the number of geographical areas as well as the number of yearly days that are suitable for transmission of certain infectious diseases can increase due to global warming. At the same time, increased 'suitability' does not always lead to a factual increase in disease burden and economic development and public health measures have resulted in marked reductions in the burden of several important infectious diseases in recent years.

Insights into the impact of manure on the environmental antibiotic residues and resistance pool.

The intensive use of antibiotics in the veterinary sector, linked to the application of manure-derived amendments in agriculture, translates into increased environmental levels of chemical residues, AR bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG). The aim of this review was to evaluate the current evidence regarding the impact of animal farming and manure application on the antibiotic resistance pool in the environment. Several studies reported correlations between the prevalence of clinically relevant ARB and the amount and classes of antibiotics used in animal farming (high resistance rates being reported for medically important antibiotics such as penicillins, tetracyclines, sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones).

International Travel as a Risk Factor for Carriage of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing in a Large Sample of European Individuals-The AWARE Study.

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is currently a major threat to global health, calling for a One Health approach to be properly understood, monitored, tackled, and managed. Potential risk factors for AR are often studied in specific high-risk populations, but are still poorly understood in the general population. Our aim was to explore, describe, and characterize potential risk factors for carriage of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-resistant (ESBL-EC) in a large sample of European individuals aged between 16 and 67 years recruited from the general population in Southern Germany, the Netherlands, and Romania.

Improved science-based transformation pathways for the development of safe and sustainable plastics.

Projected plastic production volumes are rising, as is societal and political attention to plastic pollution and possible health impacts. In line with ambitions for climate mitigation and the circular economy, various national and international policies and action plans address the reduction of impacts of plastics. Quantitative scenario analyses show that even if current ambitious targets to reduce plastics are achieved, plastics will remain a source of millions of tons of environmental pollution annually.

Carriage of ESBL-producing Enterobacterales in wastewater treatment plant workers and surrounding residents - the AWARE Study.

To investigate whether wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) workers and residents living in close proximity to a WWTP have elevated carriage rates of ESBL-producing Enterobacterales, as compared to the general population. From 2018 to 2020, we carried out a cross-sectional study in Germany, the Netherlands, and Romania among WWTP workers (N = 344), nearby residents (living ≤ 300 m away from WWTPs; N = 431) and distant residents (living ≥ 1000 m away = reference group; N = 1165). We collected information on potential confounders via questionnaire.

Seizing the moment: now is the time for integrated global surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in wastewater environments.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat that requires coordinated action across One Health sectors (humans, animals, environment) to stem its spread. Environmental surveillance of AMR is largely behind the curve in current One Health surveillance programs, but recent momentum in the establishment of infrastructure for monitoring of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in sewage provides an impetus for analogous AMR monitoring. Simultaneous advances in research have identified striking trends in various AMR measures in wastewater and other impacted environments across global transects.

Secrets of the Hospital Underbelly: Patterns of Abundance of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes in Hospital Wastewater Vary by Specific Antimicrobial and Bacterial Family.

Hospital wastewater is a major source of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) outflow into the environment. This study uses metagenomics to study how hospital clinical activity impacts antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) abundances in hospital wastewater. Sewage was collected over a 24-h period from multiple wastewater collection points (CPs) representing different specialties within a tertiary hospital site and simultaneously from community sewage works.

Model development for evidence-based prioritisation of policy action on emerging chemical and microbial drinking water risks.

While the burden of disease from well-studied drinking water contaminants is declining, risks from emerging chemical and microbial contaminants arise because of social, technological, demographic and climatological developments. At present, emerging chemical and microbial drinking water contaminants are not assessed in a systematic way, but reactively and incidence based. Furthermore, they are assessed separately despite similar pollution sources.

Surface chemistry-dependent antiviral activity of silver nanoparticles.

The toxicity towards viruses of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has been reported to be dependent on several factors such as particle concentration, size, and shape. Although these factors may indeed contribute to the toxicity of AgNPs, the results presented in this work demonstrate that surface chemistry and especially surface charge is a crucial factor governing their antiviral activity. Here, this work investigated the influence of capping agents representing various surface charges ranging from negative to positive.

Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater Treatment Plants and Transmission Risks for Employees and Residents: The Concept of the AWARE Study.

Antibiotic resistance has become a serious global health threat. Wastewater treatment plants may become unintentional collection points for bacteria resistant to antimicrobials. Little is known about the transmission of antibiotic resistance from wastewater treatment plants to humans, most importantly to wastewater treatment plant workers and residents living in the vicinity.

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via Breathing, Speaking, Singing, Coughing, and Sneezing.

Background: Evidence for indoor airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is accumulating.

Objectives: We assessed of the risk of illness due to airborne SARS-CoV-2 particles from breathing, speaking, singing, coughing, and sneezing in indoor environments.

Methods: A risk assessment model, CoV2, for exposure to SARS-CoV-2 particles in aerosol droplets was developed.

Riverine microplastic and microbial community compositions: A field study in the Netherlands.

Plastic pollution in aquatic environments, particularly microplastics (<5 mm), is an emerging health threat. The buoyancy, hydrophobic hard surfaces, novel polymer carbon sources and long-distance transport make microplastics a unique substrate for biofilms, potentially harbouring pathogens and enabling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene exchange. Microplastic concentrations, their polymer types and the associated microbial communities were determined in paired, contemporaneous samples from the Dutch portion of the river Rhine.