The Role of Leather Microbes in Human Health

Leather tanned from raw hides and skins have been used to cover and protect the human body since early man. The skin of an animal carries thousands of microbes. Some are beneficial and protect the animal while others are pathogenic and cause diseases. Some microbes have no defined roles in animals. These microbes end up in the human body through contact with the animal skin. In recent years, the human body has been studied as an ecosystem where trillions of microorganisms live as a community called microbiome. Humans need beneficial microbes like Bacillus subtilis on the skin surface to stay healthy. Many microbes need the human body to survive. Not many studies have looked into the close link between animal leather and the human microbiome. The assumption is that conventional leather processes inhibit the pathogens on skins from carrying any risk of microbial hazard to the human body. This chapter identifies endemic microbes of “animal skin microbiome” that withstand extreme acidity and alkalinity of leather manufacture and their transmission to humans. Some cause allergic reactions, skin lesion, infections or death to tannery employees with weakened immune systems. This promotes the need to look at leather product microbiome impact on human health

Assessment of Heavy Metals in Landfill Leachate: A Case Study of Thohoyandou Landfill, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Landfilling of solid wastes has gained increasing acceptance due to the ease of disposal. However, such activity has consequences if the landfill site is not designed according to specification or does not have a leachate liner and collection system. Leachate possesses potential risk to surface and groundwater aquifer within the area surrounding the landfill site. The aim of this chapter is to assess the physicochemical parameters and heavy metal levels in leachate generated from a periurban landfill site situated in Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Physicochemical parameters were measured onsite using standard methods, while heavy metals were analyzed with flame atomic absorption spectrometer (FAAS) after nitric acid digestion. pH, conductivity and turbidity values ranged from 6.97 to 7.68, 426 to 2288 μS/cm and 12.78 to 295.5 NTU, respectively. Most levels of the determined heavy metals exceeded the effluent discharge guideline limit of South African Department of Water Affairs. This could potentially spike their levels in surface and groundwater. Adequate measures should be put in place to manage the leachate generated from landfill sites

Impact of Wastewater on Surface Water Quality in Developing Countries: A Case Study of South Africa

Wastewater effluents are major contributors to a variety of water pollution problems. Most cities of developing countries generate on the average 30–70 mm3 of wastewater per person per year. Owing to lack of or improper wastewater treatment facilities, wastewater and its effluents are often discharged into surface water sources, which are receptacles for domestic and industrial wastes, resulting to pollution. The poor quality of wastewater effluents is responsible for the degradation of the receiving surface water body. Wastewater effluent should be treated efficiently to avert adverse health risk of the user of surface water resources and the aquatic ecosystem. The release of raw and improperly treated wastewater onto water courses has both short‐ and long‐term effects on the environment and human health. Hence, there should be proper enforcement of water and environmental laws to protect the health of inhabitants of both rural and urban communities. This study reports major factors responsible for the failing state of wastewater treatment facilities in developing countries, which includes poor operational state of wastewater infrastructure, design weaknesses, lack of expertise, corruption, insufficient funds allocated for wastewater treatment, overloaded capacities of existing facilities, and inefficient monitoring for compliance, among others

Spatial Distribution of Diarrhoea and Microbial Quality of Domestic Water during an Outbreak of Diarrhoea in the Tshikuwi Community in Venda, South Africa

Total microbial quality assessment and geographical information system were used for evaluating the quality of water and the spatial distribution of diarrhoea cases in Tshikuwi, a rural community in South Africa, during an outbreak of diarrhoea. The water-abstraction points included two groundwater storage tanks, namely Tank 1 and Tank 2 and the Khandanama river. Indicator microbial counts for total coliforms, faecal coliforms, enterococci, and heterotrophic bacteria exceeded the limit for no risk as stipulated by the South African water-quality guidelines for domestic use for Tank 1 and the Khandanama river. Vibrio, Salmonella, and Shigella species were prevalent in the Khandanama river. The spatial distribution of diarrhoea cases showed a hot-spot of diarrhoea cases close to Tank 1 and the Khandanama river. Results of chi-square analysis showed that the proportion of infection from each water source was different or that infection depends on the type of water source (α=0.05). The demonstrated spatial clustering of diarrhoea cases might have been influenced by the poor microbial quality of water used from Tank 1 and the Khandanama river. The results further highlight the urgent need of water-treatment facilities and monitoring of water quality in rural communities of South Africa

Household Hazardous Waste Management in Sub‐Saharan Africa

Household hazardous wastes (HHWs) have not been given serious attention in sub‐Saharan Africa. There is little or no information on HHWs in many developing countries of the world. This is regardless of the fact that they are very toxic and contain constituents which are persistent in nature. Once released into the environment, they can remain stable for exceptionally long periods of time. They have the potential to be harmful to public health and the environment if not handled, used, and disposed properly. This study reports the level of knowledge and management of HHWs in three tertiary institutions in sub‐Saharan Africa. Several factors were found to be responsible for poor management of HHWs. These include lack of awareness, inadequate treatment technologies, financial constraints, lack of realistic policies and legal frameworks, and unplanned settlements, among others

Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals on Primary School Learners from Dust and Soil within School Premises in Lagos State, Nigeria

This chapter is aimed at evaluating learner’s health risk based on the concentration of toxic metals (Pb, Cr, Cd and Mn) in soil/dust from playgrounds/classrooms in selected primary schools in Lagos State. Samples were divided into four groups based on the density of the locations. Concentration of toxic metals in samples were determined by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (GFA-EX7) technique after microwave digestion. The result showed that some of the heavy metals in the soil were higher than permissible limits set by DPR, FEPA and WHO. The soil/dust were contaminated with Cr, Cd and Pb but Mn was within permissible limit. Due to exposure to playground soil and classroom dust, hazardous index (HI) for non-carcinogenic/carcinogenic risk in children was estimated. HI value indicated that the heavy metal pollution may pose no obvious non-cancer health risk to children learning in such schools. However, children via ingestion pathway are exposed to the greatest carcinogenic risk followed by the inhalation pathway. The cancer risk for learners was found to be 3.2 × 10−2 (1 in 31 individuals). Hence, there is need for local environmental authorities to be warned about the potential health risks caused by heavy metals in playground/classroom

Structure: Activity and Emerging Applications of Spices and Herbs

Herbs and spices are plant parts (herbs from leaves and spices from other parts) that are conventionally used in their fresh or dried state for flavouring, natural condiments, preservatives and for medicinal purposes. Worldwide, most spices are classified on the basis of taste, season of growth, economic importance, growth habit and plant part used. Black pepper, chilies, small cardamom, ginger and turmeric are some of the widely used spices while common herbs include thyme, basil and bay leaves. These herbs are basically classified according to usage, active constituents and period of life. Secondary metabolites such as Eugenol, thymol, limonene, cuminaldehyde, curcumin, piperine, quercetin, luteolin in these plant parts have been found to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic effects. Their application in water fortification, milk and cheese processing, production of beauty products and pesticides among others could not be underestimated. Finally, adulteration, toxicity and allergic reactions are some of the identified limitations and challenges often encountered in the use of herbs and spices

Perception of Environmental Spillovers Across Scale in Climate Change Adaptation Planning: The Case of Small-Scale Farmers’ Irrigation Strategies, Kenya

The failure to acknowledge and account for environmental externalities or spillovers in climate change adaptation policy, advocacy, and programming spaces exacerbate the risk of ecological degradation, and more so, the degradation of land. The use of unsuitable water sources for irrigation may increase salinisation risks. However, few if any policy assessments and research efforts have been directed at investigating how farmer perceptions mediate spillovers from the ubiquitous irrigation adaptation strategy. In this study, the cognitive failure and/or bias construct is examined and proposed as an analytical lens in research, policy, and learning and the convergence of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation discourses. A cross-sectional survey design and multistage stratified sampling were used to collect data from 69 households. To elicit the environmental impacts of irrigation practices, topsoil and subsoils from irrigated and non-irrigated sites were sampled and analysed using AAS (atomic absorption spectrophotometer). A generalised linear logistic weight estimation procedure was used to analyse the perception of risks while an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyse changes in exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The findings from small-scale farmers in Machakos and Kakamega counties, Kenya, suggest multifaceted biases and failures about the existence and importance of externalities in adaptation planning discourses. Among other dimensions, a cognitive failure which encompasses fragmented approaches among institutions for use and management of resources, inadequate policy. and information support, as well as the poor integration of actors in adaptation planning accounts for adaptation failure. The failures in such human–environment system interactions have the potential to exacerbate the existing vulnerability of farmer production systems in the long run. The findings further suggest that in absence of risk message information dissemination, education level, farming experience, and information accumulation, as integral elements to human capital, do not seem to have a significant effect on behaviour concerning the mitigation of environmental spillovers. Implicitly, reversing the inherent adaptation failures calls for system approaches that enhance coordinated adaptation planning, prioritise the proactive mitigation of slow-onset disaster risks, and broadens decision support systems such as risk information dissemination integration, into the existing adaptation policy discourses and practice