Amoruso Irene, Bertoncello Chiara, Caravello Gianumberto, Giaccone Valerio, Baldovin Tatjana
Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, Hygiene Section, Via Loredan 18, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Department of Animal Medicine, Health and Productions, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
J Public Health Policy. 2015 Nov;36(4):390-407. doi: 10.1057/jphp.2015.32. Epub 2015 Oct 1.
In 2012 some children developed sepsis after playing together with a soap bubble toy. Microbiological testing revealed heavy contamination of the soap solution, which reasonably represented the vehicle of infection. We investigated the issue with a multidisciplinary approach: review of toy safety legislation; microbiological testing of additional samples; query of the RAPEX database for non-compliant soap bubbles; identification of major manufacturing districts. Microbiological contamination of industrial soap bubbles was widespread. Sixty-three notifications of batches contaminated by environmental microorganisms and opportunistic pathogens had been reported. The Chinese had a virtual monopoly of the soap bubble market. We identified two main manufacturing districts in Guangdong Province, both notable for degradation of their water resources. The use of untreated water for the industrial production of soap bubbles may explain the bacterial contamination. Existing legislation provides an unsatisfactory approach for managing microbiological hazards in sensitive toy categories and for identifying responsible parties in import and export of the products.
2012年，一些儿童在与一个肥皂泡玩具一起玩耍后患上了败血症。微生物检测显示肥皂溶液受到严重污染，这合理地表明了感染媒介。我们采用多学科方法调查了这个问题：审查玩具安全法规；对其他样本进行微生物检测；查询RAPEX数据库中不符合规定的肥皂泡；确定主要生产地区。工业肥皂泡的微生物污染很普遍。已经报告了63起关于批次被环境微生物和机会致病菌污染的通知。中国在肥皂泡市场上几乎处于垄断地位。我们确定了广东省的两个主要生产地区，这两个地区都以水资源退化而闻名。使用未经处理的水进行肥皂泡的工业生产可能解释了细菌污染问题。现有法规在管理敏感玩具类别中的微生物危害以及确定产品进出口中的责任方方面提供了一种不尽人意的方法。
