This issue of Water Resources Update focuses on microbial pathogens. We highlight some surprising research findings and ongoing efforts to reduce faecal contamination of our waterways. – Jim Cooke, Centre Leader.
How did the chicken get it?
A large proportion of New Zealand’s notified illnesses are considered to be ‘zoonotic’, that is, they can be transmitted from animals to humans.
‘If you come down with a bug, which might be from eating undercooked chicken or a salad contaminated with pathogens from raw chicken, one of the key questions is how did the chicken come to be carrying that pathogen in the first place?’ says Graham McBride of NIWA.
Mr McBride chairs the Enteric Zoonotic Disease Research Modelling Group which has conducted a preliminary relative risk assessment for campylobacteriosis, ranking the risk posed by various exposures: food, recreational water, drinking water, and occupational exposure.
This group is a good example of the collaboration which characterises New Zealand work in human health risk assessment. NIWA’s strength is the environmental transmission of pathogens; Andrew Ball and Rob Lake of ESR contribute specialist microbiological expertise; Paul van der Logt and Lisa Gallagher of the NZ Food Safety Authority specialise in risk assessment; and Professor Nigel French of Massey University is a veterinary epidemiologist and microbiologist.
The preliminary campylobacter report is due to be released shortly: www.nzfsa.govt.nz