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BACKGROUND: A major industrial fire accident occurred in a tire manufacturing factory in Daejeon, Korea, on 12 March 2023 and lasted for 3 d, generating air pollutant emissions. Although evidence regarding the health effects of urban fires is limited, residents near tire factory may have experienced health hazards due to smoke exposure from fire plumes. OBJECTIVES: Capitalizing on the timing of this fire incident as a natural experiment, we estimated the attributable excess air pollution exposure and associated disease development among residents living near the tire factory. METHODS: We used the generalized synthetic control method to estimate air pollution exposure and health burden attributable to the accident among residents living in smoke-exposed districts. Based on satellite images and air pollution monitoring results, three administrative districts (within 1.2 km from the factory) were defined as smoke-exposed, and the other 79 districts of Daejeon were defined as controls. Among the 11 monitoring stations in Daejeon, the station located 500 m from the factory was used to estimate excess air pollution exposure (P[M.sub.10], P[M.sub.2.5], N[O.sub.2], [O.sub.3], S[O.sub.2], and CO) for residents in the exposed districts. The number of daily district-level disease-specific incidence cases were acquired from the National Health Insurance Database and used to estimate excess health burden resulting from the fire. RESULTS: During the first week following the factory fire, residents of exposed districts had an estimated excess exposure to 125.2 [95% confidence interval (CI): 44.9, 156.7] [micro]g/[m.sup.3] of P[M.sub.10], 50.4 (95% CI: 12.7, 99.8) ppb of N[O.sub.2], and 32.0 (95% CI: 21.0, 35.9) ppb of S[O.sub.2]. We also found an average increase in the incidence cases of other diseases of upper respiratory tract [20.6 persons (95% CI: 6.2, 37.4)], lung disease due to external agents [2.5 persons (95% CI: 2.1, 3.3)], urticaria and erythema [5.9 persons (95% CI: --0.6, 11.2)], and episodic and paroxysmal disorders [8.5 persons (95% CI: 3.7, 13.4)] in exposed districts. DISCUSSION: Excessive air pollution exposure and disease incidence were identified among residents living close to the tire factory. Preventive measures, such as a warning system, to avoid health impacts to people breathing fire-related pollution may be beneficial for communities impacted by such events. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14115, Introduction A sudden fire occurred at a tire manufacturing factory in Daejeon, Korea, on 12 March 2023. The fire lasted for 58 h, burning 200,000 stored tires and causing a [...]

Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol's harm to others includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma from traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and intimate partner violence. While alcohol's causal role in these conditions is well-established, alcohol's harm to others' contribution to the overall health burden of alcohol remains unknown. This knowledge gap leads to a situation in which alcohol policy and prevention strategies largely focus on the reduction of alcohol's detrimental health harms on the alcohol users, neglecting affected others and population groups most vulnerable to these harms, including women and children. In this article, we seek to elucidate why estimates for alcohol's harm to others are lacking and offer guidance for future research. We also argue that a full assessment of the alcohol health burden that includes the harm caused by others' alcohol use would enhance the visibility and public awareness of such harms, and advancing the evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate them. Chaque annee, un peu moins de 2,5 millions de deces sont lies a la consommation d'alcool. Cette estimation globale ne tient cependant pas compte de l'impact sur la sante de l'entourage des consommateurs d'alcool. Les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres ont une multitude de consequences, parmi lesquelles des traumatismes dus aux accidents de la circulation, des anomalies fatales liees a une exposition prenatale a l'alcool, ainsi que des actes de violence interpersonnelle et entre partenaires. Bien que le role causal de l'alcool dans ces problematiques soit bien etabli, les repercussions de tels mefaits sur la sante dans son ensemble restent a determiner. Des lacunes qui aboutissent souvent a une situation dans laquelle les politiques et strategies de prevention se concentrent principalement sur la diminution des effets nefastes de l'alcool sur la sante des consommateurs eux-memes, negligeant les personnes qui les entourent et les categories de population les plus vulnerables, en particulier les femmes et les enfants. Dans cet article, nous tentons d'expliquer pourquoi il n'existe aucune estimation concernant les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres et prodiguons des conseils pour de futures recherches. Nous plaidons aussi pour une analyse complete de la charge sanitaire imputable a l'alcool incluant les mefaits de l'alcool sur les autres, afin d'ameliorer la visibility et de mieux sensibiliser l'opinion publique a ces problematiques, mais aussi de faire progresser l'evaluation des interventions politiques entreprises pour y remedier. Cerca de 2,5 millones de personas mueren cada ano por el consumo de alcohol. Sin embargo, esta estimacion global excluye la mayor parte de la carga sanitaria que soportan personas que no son consumidores de alcohol. Los danos del alcohol a terceros incluyen multitud de afecciones, como los traumatismos por accidentes de trafico, los trastornos fetales debidos a la exposicion prenatal al alcohol, y la violencia interpersonal y de pareja. Aunque se sabe que el alcohol influye en estas afecciones, se desconoce la contribucion de los danos del alcohol a terceros a la carga sanitaria global que supone el alcohol. Esta falta de conocimiento conduce a una situacion en la que las estrategias de politica y de prevencion del alcohol se centran en gran medida en la reduccion de los danos perjudiciales del alcohol para la salud de los consumidores de alcohol, dejando de lado a los demas afectados y a los grupos de poblacion mas vulnerables a estos danos, incluidas las mujeres y los ninos. En este articulo, tratamos de dilucidar por que faltan estimaciones sobre los danos del alcohol en otras personas y ofrecemos orientaciones para futuras investigaciones. Tambien argumentamos que una evaluacion completa de la carga sanitaria del alcohol que incluya los danos causados por el consumo de alcohol de otras personas mejoraria la visibilidad y la concienciacion publica de esos danos, y haria avanzar la evaluacion de las intervenciones politicas para mitigarlos. [phrase omitted], Introduction Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. (1) This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. [...]

Author(s): Meshari Ahmed Alhadlaq[sup.1], Othman I. Aljurayyad[sup.1,2], Ayidh Almansour[sup.1], Saleh I. Al-Akeel[sup.1], Khaloud O. Alzahrani[sup.1], Shahad A. Alsalman[sup.1], Reham Yahya[sup.3,8], Rashad R. Al-Hindi[sup.4], Mohammed Ageeli Hakami[sup.5], Saleh D. Alshahrani[sup.6], Naif [...], Classification of pathogenic E. coli has been focused either in mammalian host or infection site, which offers limited resolution. This review presents a comprehensive framework for classifying all E. coli branches within a single, unifying figure. This approach integrates established methods based on virulence factors, serotypes and clinical syndromes, offering a more nuanced and informative perspective on E. coli pathogenicity. The presence of the LEE island in pathogenic E. coli is a key genetic marker differentiating EHEC from STEC strains. The coexistence of stx and eae genes within the bacterial genome is a primary characteristic used to distinguish STEC from other pathogenic E. coli strains. The presence of the inv plasmid, Afa/Dr adhesins, CFA-CS-LT-ST and EAST1 are key distinguishing features for identifying pathogenic E. coli strains belonging to EIEC, DAEC, ETEC and EAEC pathotypes respectively. Food microbiological criteria differentiate pathogenic E. coli in food matrices. 'Zero-tolerance' applies to most ready-to-eat (RTE) foods due to high illness risk. Non-RTE foods' roles may allow limited E. coli presence, which expose consumers to potential risk; particularly from the concerning Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains, which can lead to life-threatening complications in humans, including haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and even death in susceptible individuals. These findings suggest that decision-makers should consider incorporating the separate detection of STEC serotypes into food microbiological criteria, in addition to existing enumeration methods. Contamination of STEC is mainly linked to food consumption, therefore, outbreaks of E. coli STEC has been reviewed here and showed a link also to water as a potential contamination route. Since their discovery in 1982, over 39,787 STEC cases associated with 1,343 outbreaks have been documented. The majority of these outbreaks occurred in the Americas, followed by Europe, Asia and Africa. The most common serotypes identified among the outbreaks were O157, the 'Big Six' (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145), and other serotypes such as O55, O80, O101, O104, O116, O165, O174 and O183. This review provides valuable insights into the most prevalent serotypes implicated in STEC outbreaks and identifies gaps in microbiological criteria, particularly for E. coli non-O157 and non-Big Six serotypes. Keywords: Escherichia coli, STEC, O157, Big Six, Food poisoning, Epidemiology, Outbreaks, SFDA and Microbiological Criteria