Strategic objective
According to the work programme of the European Commission in priority 1.1.5 “Food quality and safety” for Topic T5.4.8.3: “Pathogens in drinking water sources”, the following strategic aim is given: “The objective is to gather knowledge on emergent microbial pathogens in drinking water sources. Human health impacts of emergent micro-organisms should be further investigated.”
Project Summary
The overall goal of the project is to advance our knowledge on pathogenesis of emergent microbial pathogens in drinking water and to understand their transmission to humans. The project will focus on all major types of pathogens, i.e. viruses, bacteria and protozoa, and will concentrate on a representative set of European drinking water supply systems and source waters of specific sensitivity to human health. This project will build on the output of the MicroRisk project by focussing on water systems that are in general not as well protected as the systems within MicroRisk. To reach the overall goal the following detailed objectives are approached: 1. Validation and application of detection technologies for emerging microbial pathogens based on nucleic acids. 2. Molecular survey and comparative detailed study of emerging pathogens in European drinking water sources and supply systems. 3. Understanding the human health impact of emerging pathogens by primary epidemiological studies targeted at specific systems and pathogens. 4. Determination of epidemiological correlations with molecular and environmental data and assessment of risk for waterborne microbial infections in Europe. An integrated research approach will be pursued to achieve these objectives by combining molecular and classical detection, activity assessment and epidemiological understanding of emerging pathogens in a specific set of drinking water systems from different European regions. The project will generate validated detection technologies for the targeted waterborne pathogens and reveal possible routes of transmission to humans via drinking water consumption. This new knowledge will provide guidance to improve the hygienic quality of European drinking water supplies and reduce the burden of waterborne infections for the people in Europe.
Project objectives
To meet the general aim given by the Commission we have defined the following specific objectives within the HEALTHY-WATER project:
Objective 1:
Development and validation of molecular detection technologies
for emerging microbial pathogens based on nucleic acids to provide a format
ready for mass application in drinking water samples
Objective 2:
Molecular survey and comparative detailed study
of emerging microbial pathogens in European drinking water sources and
supply systems
Objective 3:
Understanding human health impacts of emerging pathogens
in different drinking water supply systems and different supply regimes
Objective 4:
Determination of epidemiological correlations
with molecular and environmental data and assessment of risk for emerging
waterborne microbial infections in Europe
Workplan
An integrated research approach (see Figure 1 below) will be pursued comprising the following elements: i) molecular detection and activity assessment of emerging microbial pathogens in source water and supply systems for drinking water from different European regions, ii) prospective epidemiological studies and immunological surveys in targeted areas and of selected pathogens, iii) development of epidemiological models and iv) derivation of public health measures for drinking water in Europe. This integrated approach will be supported by data mining for knowledge about the targeted pathogens, electronic knowledge management and specific searches for epidemiological data from the European regions of relevance. In addition, molecular technologies based on DNA micro-arrays and fingerprints for detection and activity assessment of the emerging pathogens will be validated to allow rapid molecular analyses of many water samples.
- Figure 1. Diagram of the integrated approach showing the major research activities and technological developments in the HEALTHY-WATER project.
- Figure 2. Work diagram showing the interdependencies between the different activity areas and work packages (WP) in the HEALTHY-WATER project. (All activities are supported by the knowledge gathering and management provided by WP9, not shown to avoid confusion).