10. Fecal Matters
Feasibility of fluorescence imaging technique for the detection of diluted fecal matters from various parts of the digestive tract, including colon, ceca, small intestine, and duodenum, on poultry carcasses was investigated. One of the challenges for using fluorescence imaging for inspection of agricultural material is the low fluorescence yield in that fluorescence can be masked by ambient light. A laser-induced fluorescence imaging system (LIFIS) developed by our group allowed acquisition of fluorescence from feces-contaminated poultry carcasses in ambient light. Fluorescence emission images at 630 nm were captured with 415-nm laser excitation. Image processing algorithms including threshold and image erosion were used to identify fecal spots diluted up to 1: 10 by weight with double distilled water. Feces spots on the carcasses, without dilution and up to 1: 5 dilutions, could be detected with 100% accuracy regardless of feces type. Detection accuracy for fecal matters diluted up to 1: 10 was 96.6%. The results demonstrated good potential of the LIFIS for detection of diluted poultry fecal matter, which can harbor pathogens, on poultry carcasses.
10. Fecal Matters
Mild impactions are relieved with the gentle administration of a retention enema. Posthemorrhoidectomy patients with significant impactions often require disimpaction under anesthesia. An anal block can be administered in the operating room or the endoscopy suite in combination with conscious sedation. 0.5% or 1% Xylocaine with or without epinephrine is injected around the anus and into the anal sphincter complex. The fecal impaction may be gently digitally removed, once the local anesthetic takes effect.
This no joke, 40% of innocent looking office cups were found to be contaminated with the infamous coliform bacteria (usually found in fecal matter). AP News reported that a University of Arizona research team, which did the study, blamed the contamination on dirty sponges and dishrags used to wipe the cups. 20% of the sponges tested haboured E.coli.
According to research by the American Society for Microbiology, researchers from the University of Houston found hotel TV remotes to have high levels of fecal bacteria on them. Poop particles were also discovered on items in the housekeeping carts, on the toilet and on the bathroom sink.
Some people enjoy eating during shopping sprees at the supermarkets. They are seen digging their hands into packets of crisps as they simultaneously touch shopping trolley handles. Eating while pushing a trolley is a health risk because, according to a research by Charles P. Gerba who researched bacterial contamination of shopping carts. 72% of the 85 shopping carts he swabbed at supermarkets had fecal matter. E. coli and coliform bacteria were found on shopping cart handles in levels that were higher than in public toilets and other public places.
Also found on bills: fecal matter. A 2002 report in the Southern Medical Journal showed found pathogens — including staphylococcus — on 94% of dollar bills tested. Paper money can reportedly carry more germs than a household toilet. And bills are a hospitable environment for gross microbes: viruses and bacteria can live on most surfaces for about 48 hours, but paper money can reportedly transport a live flu virus for up to 17 days. It's enough to make you switch to credit.
The common factors in the fecal-oral route can be summarized as five Fs: fingers, flies, fields, fluids, and food. Diseases caused by fecal-oral transmission include typhoid, cholera, polio, hepatitis and many other infections, especially ones that cause diarrhea.
People infected with Clostridium difficile suffer debilitating diarrhea, but the bug often defies antibiotics. Doctors have recently discovered that a fecal transplant will restore good gut bacteria that banishes the C. diff. But the procedure is awkward, requiring a donation of fresh feces, usually from a relative, and a colonoscopy to deliver it.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital figured they could improve on that. First they tried delivering the fecal transplant through a tube snaked down the nose and into the stomach. It delivered the healthy bugs but wasn't much fun.
"Just getting the tube down is a problem," Dr. Elizabeth Hohmann, a staff physician in infectious diseases at Mass General, told Shots. And the doctors worried that if people gagged and vomited, they could inhale fecal matter. "That's pretty scary."
In 2011, the Physicians Committee conducted a study that tested 120 chicken products sold by 15 grocery store chains in 10 U.S. cities for the presence of fecal bacteria. Forty-eight percent of the products tested positive.
On-site small-scale sanitation is common in rural areas and areas without infrastructure, but the treatment of the collected fecal matter can be inefficient and is seldom directed to resource recovery. The aim of this study was to compare low-technology solutions such as composting and lactic acid fermentation (LAF) followed by vermicomposting in terms of treatment efficiency, potential human and environmental risks, and stabilization of the material for reuse in agriculture. A specific and novel focus of the study was the fate of native pharmaceutical compounds in the fecal matter. Composting, with and without the addition of biochar, was monitored by temperature and CO2 production and compared with LAF. All treatments were run at three different ambient temperatures (7, 20, and 38C) and followed by vermicomposting at room temperature. Materials resulting from composting and LAF were analyzed for fecal indicators, physicochemical characteristics, and residues of ten commonly used pharmaceuticals and compared to the initial substrate. Vermicomposting was used as secondary treatment and assessed by enumeration of Escherichia coli, worm density, and physicochemical characteristics. Composting at 38C induced the highest microbial activity and resulted in better stability of the treated material, higher N content, lower numbers of fecal indicators, and less pharmaceutical compounds as compared to LAF. Even though analysis of pH after LAF suggested incomplete fermentation, E. coli cell numbers were significantly lower in all LAF treatments compared to composting at 7C, and some of the anionic pharmaceutical compounds were detected in lower concentrations. The addition of approximately 5 vol % biochar to the composting did not yield significant differences in measured parameters. Vermicomposting further stabilized the material, and the treatments previously composted at 7C and 20C had the highest worm density. These results suggest that in small-scale decentralized sanitary facilities, the ambient temperatures can significantly influence the treatment and the options for safe reuse of the material.
Most on-site sanitation systems do not treat the fecal sludge to facilitate safe reuse (WHO and UNICEF 2017). Currently, the common practices are not considering treatment or resource recovery and rely on subsequent storage or disposal (Strande and Brdjanovic 2014; Tilley et al. 2014). Dry composting toilets are considered one of the best current options for on-site treatment in terms of resource recovery (Orner and Mihelcic 2018; McConville et al. 2020). However, composting is not always successful, and the resulting material is usually neither stabilized nor sanitized (Niwagaba et al. 2009; Hill et al. 2013). Few studies have addressed this important aspect by examining how to improve the treatment physically or chemically by, i.e., solar heating (Redlinger et al. 2001), different bulking materials (McKinley et al. 2012; Hashemi et al. 2019), and/or amendments such as biochar (Hijikata et al. 2015) or urea (Vinnerås 2007). Others have focused on modifying the treatment by vermicomposting (Yadav et al. 2011), lactic acid fermentation (LAF) (Andreev et al. 2018), or fly larvae composting (Lalander et al. 2013a).
Combinations of treatments are considered promising. Integrated composting-vermicomposting has been investigated for a variety of organic wastes (Lim et al. 2016) including fecal slurry (Yadav et al. 2012). The material is first sanitized by thermophilic composting and conditioned further with earthworms to improve the quality of the end product. Pre-composting facilitates better conditioning because earthworms are vulnerable to thermophilic temperatures and toxic compounds in the organic wastes (Yadav et al. 2012). Another treatment combination for on-site sanitation is pre-treatment with LAF followed by thermophilic composting (Andreev et al. 2016) or vermicomposting (De Gisi et al. 2014). LAF is easy to manage and reduces quickly fecal pathogens, while the organic matter and nutrients are retained (Odey et al. 2018a). However, LAF alone does not sufficiently stabilize and sanitize fecal matter, and further treatment is needed before application as soil conditioner or fertilizer (Andreev et al. 2018). The combination of LAF and vermicomposting is part of the Terra Preta sanitation, which is inspired by ancient practices of organic waste management for soil fertility in the Amazon region (De Gisi et al. 2014). Central to the Terra Preta sanitation concept is the addition of carbonaceous pyrogenic material as biochar to retain nutrients and increase the product value for improving soil health and fertility. Biochar amendment in organic waste treatment has been shown to have benefits for agricultural application, with respect to retention of nutrients and pollution remediation (Wu et al. 2017). However, the efficiency for pollutant removal has not yet been assessed.
Biological transformations of fecal matter in on-site sanitation systems based on composting, vermicomposting, and LAF, even though considered as low-tech, can contribute to a cleaner local environment. If those practices are suitable in the local social and economic context, they have the potential to increase sustainability through recirculating nutrients and organic matter from excreta to agriculture and contribute to the currently propagated circular bioeconomy strategy. It is therefore important to explore different treatments in more detail and compare them directly with regard to the risks to human health and content of contaminants such as pharmaceutical residues and others, as well as assess their value for agricultural application. 041b061a72