Microbiologia i Toxicologia Ambientals Curs 2018-19

Legionellosis as an emergent disease Introduction Legionella is a recent discovered bacteria which was discovered in 1976. Even though is a recent bacteria, nowadays the treatment for this bacteria exists. So in this article we’ll talk about what is Legionella ,what kind of diseases it can cause and it’s history. What is? Legionellosis is caused by the bacterium Legionella , which is an aerobic gram-negative bacillus that is spread through aerosolized water particles. It’s severity ranges from a mild flu syndrome to severe pneumonia, sometimes fatal. It affects the respiratory tract. The symptoms are fever, headache, lethargy, muscle aches, diarrhea and, sometimes, bloody cough. The disease can be treated with antibiotics. There are two types of infection caused by Legionella : - Pontiac fever : it’s a milder infection with fever and muscle aches that last no longer than a week as the main symptoms. - Legionnaires’ Disease : more severe infection, that results in pn...

           A.    Farguell, L. Pérez i C. Turné            Universitat de Girona, 2018 Bioremediation of radioactive waste Application of microorganisms for decontamination of potentially radioactive areas. Abstract Radioactive waste is a global problem which is difficult and expensive to treat. Geobacter sulfurreducens and Exiguobacterium acetylicum CR1 showed positive results as a bioremediators. Their metabolism can remove radioactive uranium, technetium and cesium from the medium using different mechanisms. Introduction Global nuclear activity begun 60 years ago with nuclear weapons and power plants and since then, it has not stopped increasing. This kind of industrial activities produces a huge quantity of radioactive waste, which are not easy to manage. Because of the high financial and environmental costs associated with invasive physical and chemical cleanup strategies this kind ...