Mycobacteria in Water Used for Personal Hygiene in Heavy Industry and Collieries: A Potential Risk for Employees

Vit Ulmann, Anna Kracalikova and Radka Dziedzinska
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Vit Ulmann: Institute of Public Health, Partyzanske namesti 7, 702 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Anna Kracalikova: Institute of Public Health, Partyzanske namesti 7, 702 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic
Radka Dziedzinska: Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-8

Abstract: Environmental mycobacteria (EM) constitute a health risk, particularly for immunocompromised people. Workers in heavy industry and in collieries represent an at-risk group of people as their immunity is often weakened by long-term employment in dusty environments, frequent smoking and an increased occurrence of pulmonary diseases. This study was concerned with the presence of EM in non-drinking water used for the hygiene of employees in six large industrial companies and collieries. Over a period of ten years, 1096 samples of surface water treated for hygiene purposes (treated surface water) and treated surface water diluted with mining water were examined. EM were detected in 63.4 and 41.5% samples of treated surface water and treated surface water diluted with mining water, respectively. Mycobacterium gordonae , M. avium-intracellulare and M. kansasii were the most frequently detected species. Adoption of suitable precautions should be enforced to reduce the incidence of mycobacteria in shower water and to decrease the infectious pressure on employees belonging to an at-risk group of people.

Keywords: environmental mycobacteria; surface water; mining water; shower; industry; colliery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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