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Quanitative risk assessment (QRA) - ✔✔Approach that allows the quantitative
expression of risk in terms of infection, illness, or mortality from microbial pathogens.
Used by decision makers to determine the magnitude of such risks and weigh the costs
and benefits of corrective action
Risk management - ✔✔Consideration of social, political and economic issues. Values
and ethics. Balance risks that discovered from risk assessment. Select best regulatory
action based on results of risk assessment
Risk communication - ✔✔Component of risk management. Interactive process of
information and opinion exchange among individuals, groups, and institutions.
Includes the transfer of risk information from expert to non expert audiences
Comparative risk assessment - ✔✔Comparison of potential risks associated with several
problems or issues. Example: risks from chemical exposure are small compared to those
associated with driving a car
de minimis principle - ✔✔There are some levels of risk so small that they are not worth
bothering about. Hard to define. Minimus = minimal = nothing basically
Tolerable risk - ✔✔Level of risks we can accept given the economic costs, and social and
scientific constraints. Lifetime risk of one in a million is small enough to be acceptable
for the general public
Exposure pathway - ✔✔Course that a hazardous agent takes from a source to a receptor
(ex: human or animal) via environmental carriers or media- generally air or water. Ex:
ingestion of soil and dust
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, Exposure route - ✔✔Intake pathway. Mechanism by which the transfer occurs-
inhalation, ingestion, and/or dermal contact. Way an individual comes in contact with
a toxic substance
Event trees - ✔✔Estimate exposure by analysis of pathogen loads upstream when the
actual concentration of the harmful agent that reaches the target is too low to measure
Dose-response relationship - ✔✔Quantitative relationship that indicates the agent's
degree of toxicity to exposed species
% Response = % affected by substance, % who respond (have effects) from dose
Dose - ✔✔Milligrams of substance or number of pathogen ingested, inhaled, or
absorbed through the skin
Amount of a substance delivered at one time
Exposure dose - ✔✔Amount of xenobiotic encountered in the environment
Absorbed dose - ✔✔Actual amount of the exposed dose that enters the body
Administered dose - ✔✔Quantity administered usually orally or by injection
Total dose - ✔✔The sum of all individual doses
Response - ✔✔Effects. Can vary widely- from no observable effect, to temporary and
reversible effects, etc.
Minimum infectious dose - ✔✔Implies that a threshold dose exists for microorganisms.
Refers to ID50 (dose at which 50% of the animals or humans exposed became infected
or exhibit any symptoms of an illness
Uncertainty - ✔✔In every step of the risk assessment process. Example: extrapolation
from high to low doses
When people tell you wrong information in survey
Variability - ✔✔When survey people, don't get accurate facts
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