Endotoxin emissions from commercial composting activities

生物气溶胶是空气中微生物、植物或动物来源的颗粒，可被认为是“有机粉尘”。科学家们越来越认识到，吸入生物气雾剂存在潜在的健康风险。这些健康风险包括呼吸系统的感染和刺激。有证据表明，一些废物设施会产生生物气溶胶，因此需要进行科学研究，以找到管理这些设施的最佳方式，将对在那里工作的人和生活在附近的人的健康风险降至最低。该项目旨在开发一种令人担忧的特定生物气溶胶成分内毒素的新知识。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导致不良健康影响，包括呼吸系统疾病和肺部损害。然而，堆肥设施释放的内毒素对公众的风险程度尚不清楚。该项目旨在找出堆肥设施释放了多少内毒素，内毒素将传播到多远，以及堆肥设施空气中发现的浓度是否会潜在地影响居住在这些设施附近的人们的健康。

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.