Endotoxin emissions from commercial composting activities

生物气溶胶是来自微生物、植物或动物的空气微粒，可以被认为是“有机粉尘”。科学家们越来越认识到，吸入生物气溶胶有潜在的健康风险。这些健康风险包括呼吸系统感染和刺激。有证据表明，一些废物处理设施会产生生物气溶胶，因此需要进行科学研究，找到管理这些设施的最佳方法，以尽量减少对在那里工作的人和附近居民的健康风险。这个项目的目的是开发新的知识，一个特定的生物气溶胶成分的关注被称为内毒素。内毒素是堆肥中发现的许多细菌的组成部分，已知如果吸入内毒素会对健康造成不利影响，包括呼吸系统疾病和肺部损伤。然而，堆肥设施释放的内毒素对公众的风险程度尚不清楚。该项目旨在查明堆肥设施释放了多少内毒素，这些内毒素会传播多远，以及堆肥设施空气中的内毒素浓度是否会潜在地影响这些设施附近居民的健康。

Bioaerosols are airborne particles of microbial, plant or animal origin and may be thought of as 'organic dust'. There is a growing recognition amongst scientists that there are potential health risks associated with inhalation of bioaerosols. These health risks include infections and irritations of the respiratory system. There is evidence that bioaerosols are generated at some waste facilities and therefore scientific research is needed to find the best way of managing these facilities to minimise health risks to the people who work there and also people living nearby. This project aims to develop new knowledge of a specific bioaerosol component of concern known as endotoxin. Endotoxin is a constituent of many bacteria found in compost and is known to cause adverse health effects including respiratory disease and lung damage if inhaled. However, the extent of the risk to the public from endotoxin released from composting facilities is unknown. This project aims to find out how much endotoxin is released from composting facilities, how far it will travel and whether the concentrations found in air from composting facilities could potentially affect the health of people living close to these facilities.