Szennyvízvizsgálatok története az ókortól napjainkig
Physical, chemical, and biological properties of wastewater make it unfit for specific purposes such as human consumption, but it can be used in many other ways. Above many fields of agriculture, wastewater can also be helpful in obtaining epidemiologically important data. Microbiological risk assessment by environmental surveillance methods provides a firm base for modern community screening. Faeces and urine of inhabitants carry specific and detectable substances and microorganisms into the wastewater and provide additional data about the health of people living in the sampling area. It has been a long way to modern wastewater testing that presents the systematic analysis as an option for identifying diseases and conditions. Wastewater testing preceded separated faeces and urine examinations in the past millennia. Thus, urine and faeces diagnostics joined the history of men for the last several thousand years. The earliest evidence dates back around 6,000 years, preserved on clay tablets of the Sumerians and Babylonians. Initially, there were only examinations by our five senses, completed later by various microscopic, culture, cytological and chemical testing. Today, we have a wide range of the latest methods as polymerase chain reaction and sequencing, for more accurate recognition of diseases.
Authors
- Tamás Pándics (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8993-0014)
- Márta Vargha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6426-2056)
- Balázs Seres
- Loretta Varga
Publication Details
- Journal
- Kaleidoscope History
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17107/kh.2025.30.7
- Primary Topic
- Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00