Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0166
- LAST MODIFIED: 26 July 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0166
Introduction
Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) is the application of mathematical models of exposure and dose response to predict the likelihood of adverse outcomes due to exposure to pathogens. These adverse outcomes include infection (the microorganisms replicate in or on the host organism), morbidity (illness, the microorganisms induce disease in the host), and mortality (the host dies due to the effects of the microorganisms). QMRAs have addressed a variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and prions, and produce probabilistic estimates of harm. In other words, QMRA generally does not indicate if an adverse outcome will occur or not, but will instead indicates the probability that it will occur. As pathogens are present in many environmental media, avoiding all potential exposures with pathogens is not a feasible goal. QMRA provides a way to assess the impacts of these many potential routes of exposures in order to inform decisions about which risks are significant enough to merit efforts to avoid or mitigate them. The term QMRA is generally applied only to the calculation of the probability of harm, while efforts to prioritize and make decisions about risk are referred to as “risk management.” QMRA is often used synonymously with the term “microbial risk assessment,” given that the microbial risk assessment framework (described below) includes inherently quantitative steps. However, non-quantitative approaches to risk are recognized as an important component of risk assessment and management (see Hazard Identification section below). Microbial risks may also be identified, and some cases quantified, using epidemiological methods that correlate exposures and risks without employing specific models of exposure and dose that are part of the QMRA framework (see below). QMRA approaches have been applied to inform standards for microbiological quality of food, water, air, and touched surfaces, such as counters, doorknobs, and so on. QMRA approaches are seen as valuable because they allow for hypothetical cases to be considered (i.e., scenarios for which there are no available data. QMRA also allows for an assessment of the exposures associated with very low risks, such as 1 in 1 million or 1 in 10,000, that may be desired targets for risk mitigation efforts but are too low to be realistically measured. QMRA approaches may be criticized as being frequently applied without validation to scenarios substantially different from the circumstances under which the models were developed. Consensus views see a role for QMRA in decision making, while also recognizing that in many cases QMRA estimates are subject to substantial uncertainty and should be interpreted cautiously.
Risk Assessment Framework
A common conceptualization of the framework for developing quantitative microbial risk assessments includes four steps: hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose response, and risk characterization (QMRA Wiki 2016). These steps are essentially the same as those commonly used for chemical risk assessment. Each of these steps is described in more detail below.
QMRA Wiki. 2016. Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) Wiki. East Lansing, MI: Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment.
This website provides information on QMRA methods and serves as a repository of inputs and data for QMRA. Both raw data and fitted parameters are available for dose response models for a large number of pathogens and host species. An archive of case studies provides many examples of how QMRA methods can be applied in different contexts.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abortion
- Access to Health Care
- Action Research
- Active Aging
- Active Living
- Addiction
- Adolescent Health, Socioeconomic Inequalities in
- Adolescent Risk-Taking Behavior in the United States
- Advocacy, Public Health
- Agricultural Safety and Public Health
- Air Quality: Health Effects
- Air Quality: Indoor Health Effects
- Alcohol Availability and Violence
- Alternative Research Designs
- Ambient Air Quality Standards and Guidelines
- American Perspectives on Chronic Disease and Control
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Arts in Health
- Asbestos
- Asthma in Children
- Asthma, Work-Related
- Attachment as a Health Determinant
- Behavior
- Behavior Change Theory in Health Education and Promotion
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
- Bicycling and Cycling Safety
- Bioethics
- Birth and Death Registration
- Birth Cohort Studies
- Board of Health
- Breastfeeding
- Built Environment and Health, The
- Business and Corporate Practices
- Cancer Communication Strategies in North America
- Cancer Prevention
- Cancer Screening
- Capacity Building
- Capacity Building for NCDs in LMICs
- Capacity-Building for Applied Public Health in LMIC: A US ...
- Cardiovascular Health and Disease
- Child Labor
- Child Maltreatment
- Children, Air Pollution and
- Children, Injury Risk-Taking Behaviors in
- Children, Obesity in
- Citizen Advisory Boards
- Climate Change and Human Health
- Climate Change: Institutional Response
- Clinical Preventive Medicine
- Community Air Pollution
- Community Development
- Community Gardens
- Community Health Assessment
- Community Health Interventions
- Community Partnerships and Coalitions
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Complexity and Systems Theory
- Critical Health Literacy
- Cultural Capital and Health
- Cultural Safety
- Culture and Public Health
- Definition of Health
- Dental Public Health
- Design and Health
- Dietary Guidelines
- Directions in Global Public Health Graduate Education
- Driving and Public Health
- Ecological Approaches
- Enabling Factors
- Environmental Health, Pediatric
- Environmental Laws
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Ethics of Public Health
- Evidence-Based Pediatric Dentistry
- Evidence-Based Public Health Practice
- Family Planning Services and Birth Control
- Food Safety
- Food Security and Food Banks
- Food Systems
- Frail Elderly
- Functional Literacy
- Genomics, Public Health
- Geographic Information Systems
- Geography and Health
- Global Health
- Global Health Diplomacy
- Global Health Promotion
- Global Health Security
- Guide to Community Preventive Services, The
- Health Administration
- Health Communication
- Health Disparities
- Health Education
- Health Impact Assessment
- Health in All Policies
- Health in All Policies in European Countries
- Health Literacy
- Health Literacy and Noncommunicable Diseases
- Health Measurement Scales
- Health Planning
- Health Promoting Hospitals
- Health Promotion
- Health Promotion Foundations
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Systems of Low and Middle-Income Countries, The
- Healthy People Initiative
- Healthy Public Policy
- Hepatitis C
- High Risk Prevention Strategies
- Homelessness
- Human Rights, Health and
- Human Sexuality and Sexual Health: A Western Perspective
- IANPHI and National Public Health Institutes
- Immigrant Populations
- Immunization and Pneumococcal Infection
- Immunization in Pregnancy
- Indigenous Peoples, Public Health and
- Indigenous Populations of North America, Australasia, and ...
- Indoor Air Quality Guidelines
- Inequities
- Infant Mortality
- Internet Applications in Promoting Health Behavior
- Intersectoral Action
- Intersectoral Strategies in Low - Middle Income Countries ...
- Justice, Social
- Knowledge Translation and Exchange
- Knowledge Utilization and Exchange
- Law of Public Health in the United States
- Media Advocacy
- Mental Health
- Mental Health Promotion
- Migrant Health
- Migrant Worker Health
- Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention
- Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
- Nanotechnology
- National Association of Local Boards of Health
- National Public Health Institutions
- Needs Assessment
- Needs Assessments in International Disasters and Emergenci...
- Obesity Prevention
- Occupational Cancers
- Occupational Exposure to Benzene
- Occupational Exposure to Erionite
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Oral Health Equity for Minority Populations in the United ...
- Ottawa Charter
- Parenting and Work
- Parenting Skills and Capacity
- Participatory Action Research
- Patient Decision Making
- Pesticide Exposure and Pesticide Health Effects
- Pesticides
- Physical Activity and Exercise
- Physical Activity Promotion
- Pneumoconiosis
- Polio Eradication in Pakistan
- Population Aging
- Population Determinants of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages
- Population Health Objectives and Targets
- Precautionary Principle
- Prenatal Health
- Preparedness
- Program Evaluation in American Health Education
- Program Planning and Evaluation
- Public Health, History of
- Public Health Surveillance
- Public-Private Partnerships in Public Health Research and ...
- Public-Private Partnerships to Prevent and Manage Obesity ...
- Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment
- Racism as a Structural Determinant of Health
- Radiological and Nuclear Emergencies
- Randomized Controlled Trials
- Real World Evaluation Strategies
- Reducing Obesity-Related Health Disparities in Hispanic an...
- Research Integrity in Public Health
- Resilient Health Systems
- Rural Health in the United States
- Safety, Patient
- School Health Programs in the Pacific Region
- Sex Education in HIV/AIDS Prevention
- Silicosis
- Skin Cancer Prevention
- Smoking Cessation
- Social Determinants of Health
- Social Epidemiology
- Social Marketing
- Statistics in Public Health
- STI Networks, Patterns, and Control Strategies
- Stillbirths
- Suicide
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Systems in the United States, Public Health
- Systems Modeling and Big Data for Non-Communicable Disease...
- Systems Theory in Public Health
- Traditional, Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative M...
- Translation of Science to Practice and Policy
- Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Tuberculosis among Adults and the Determinants of Health
- UK Public Health Systems
- Unintentional Injury Prevention
- Urban Health
- Vaccination, Mandatory
- Vaccine Hesitancy
- Vermiculite
- Violence Prevention
- War
- Water Quality
- Water Quality and Water-Related Disease
- Weight Management in US Occupational Settings
- Welfare States, Public Health and Health Inequalities
- Workforce
- Worksite Health Promotion
- World Health Organization (WHO)