Browsing by Author "Madsen, Anne Mette"
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- Biological agents risk assessment: how to close the gap between science, policy making and occupational health and safety practice?Publication . Colomo, Carlota Alejandre; Heussen, Henri; Van der Haar, Rudolf; Marchand, Geneviève; Madsen, Anne Mette; Viegas, CarlaWithin the Occupational Hygiene community, the risk assessment due to exposure to biological agents has received little attention compared to chemical agents. However, the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of raising awareness and prioritizing the prevention of work-related health effects caused by biological agents. However, tools for inventorying hazards, performing risk assessments, implementing control measures, and anchoring the results are rare. With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, biological agents are often only referred to as infectious diseases. However, both infectious and non-infectious microorganisms may cause health effects. Workers in various sectors, such as healthcare and veterinary services, agriculture, waste, and wastewater management, and laboratories may be exposed through aerosols or contact with infected persons or materials that are contaminated by microorganisms. Furthermore, the sensitizing and toxic effects of biological agents are not considered when they are classified into biological agent risk groups. The sensitizing biological agents include fungi and certain bacteria (including thermophile actinomycetes). Toxic effects can be caused by metabolic products and cellular constituents of biological agents. Increased focus on biological exposures and health effects is therefore needed in order to improve the risk assessment for biological agents. The evaluation of workplace bioaerosol exposure risk is complex, considering the great diversity of bioaerosols and their effects, the limitations of the measurement methods available, and the lack of occupational exposure limits. In this symposium we present the concept of a tiered biological agents risk assessment, starting with a qualitative and ending with a quantitative approach.
- Filling the knowledge gap: scoping review regarding sampling methods, assays, and further requirements to assess airborne virusesPublication . Dias, Marta; Gomes, Bianca; Pena, Pedro; Cervantes, Renata; Beswick, Alan; Duchaine, Caroline; Kolk, Annette; Madsen, Anne Mette; Oppliger, Anne; Pogner, Clara; Duquenne, Philippe; Wouters, Inge M.; Crook, Brian; Viegas, CarlaAssessment of occupational exposure to viruses is crucial to identify virus reservoirs and sources of dissemination early and to help prevent spread between employees and the general population. Measuring workers' exposure can facilitate the assessment of the effectiveness of protective and mitigation measures in place. This scoping review aims to give an overview of available methods and those already implemented for airborne virus exposure assessment in different occupational and indoor environments. The results retrieved from the various studies may contribute to the setting of future standards and guidelines to ensure a reliable risk characterization in the occupational environments crucial for the implementation of effective control measures. The search aimed at selecting studies between January 1st, 2010, and June 30th, 2023 in the selected databases. Fifty papers on virus exposure assessment fitted the eligibility criteria and were selected for data extraction. Overall, this study identified gaps in knowledge regarding virus assessment and pinpointed the need for further research. Several discrepancies were found (transport temperatures, elution steps, …), as well as a lack of publication of important data related to the exposure conditions (contextual information). With the available information, it is impossible to compare results between studies employing different methods, and even if the same methods are used, different conclusions/ recommendations based on expert judgment have been reported due to the lack of consensus in the contextual information retrieved and/or data interpretation. Future research on the field targeting sampling methods and in the laboratory regarding the assays to employ should be developed bearing in mind the different goals of the assessment.