Banana bunchy top virus (bunchy top of banana).

Author(s):  
Lava Kumar

Abstract BBTV is the most serious virus disease of bananas and plantains. It occurs in Africa, Asia, Australia and South Pacific islands. The virus is transmitted in a persistent, circulative, non-propagative manner by the banana aphid, Pentalonia nigronervosa, which has worldwide distribution. The virus is also spread through infected planting material. All banana cultivars are thought to be susceptible, with no known sources of resistance. The typical symptoms of bunchy top of banana are very distinctive and readily distinguished from those caused by other viruses of banana. Infected plants exhibit a rosetted or 'bunchy top' appearance. Once infected, plants do not recover. The disease is a major constraint to production in many areas where it occurs. Devastating epidemics occurred early in the twentieth century in Fiji and Australia. In the 1920s, the disease had a dramatic economic effect on the banana industry in parts of Australia (Dale, 1987). More recently, BBTV has been decimating the banana industry in Pakistan (Jones, 1994) and in sub-Saharan Africa, BBTV was the main contributor to a reduction in banana bunch production by up to 70-90% in disease affected areas (Kumar et al., 2015). BBTV is listed by ISSG as one of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species.

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (01) ◽  
pp. 001-004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gema Ruiz Lopez del Prado ◽  
Cristina Hernán García ◽  
Lourdes Moreno Cea ◽  
Virginia Fernández Espinilla ◽  
Mari Fe Muñoz Moreno ◽  
...  

Malaria still poses a real threat to travellers, particularly in areas with high transmission rates such as sub-Saharan Africa, Papua New Guinea, and the South Pacific islands. Malaria causes an estimated 660,000 deaths each year from 219 million cases of illness. It is a preventable and curable disease. Malaria symptoms appear after a period of seven days or longer, and without treatment, the disease can lead to death. Mosquito bite prevention is the main way to reduce malaria transmission. Chemoprophylaxis recommendations depend on travelers’ age, destination, type of travelling, or length of stay. Pregnant women, children, and immunosuppressed travelers are the most susceptible. There are currently no licensed vaccines against malaria. Results about a research vaccine candidate known as RTS,S/AS01 are expected in 2015.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Stattersfield

The first application of the new IUCN threatened species categories to birds is reviewed. The advantage of this system is that it is characterized by clear, objective, quantitative criteria. However, for many species, requisite numerical data are lacking, and the magnitude of potential threats has to be inferred. Numbers of threatened species are compared for South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Indo-Pacific Islands. Further analysis identifies the most important countries in terms of priority for conservation action for threatened species, the key habitats for their survival and the main dangers faced. The changes between successive Red Lists indicate a possible extinction crisis of considerable magnitude, whereby half the world's birds could disappear in 800 years. Averting this crisis requires identifying and protecting sites where suites of threatened species co-occur.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e46-e48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Lumu

ABSTRACTThe prolongation of the Ebola epidemic may have allowed some countries to prepare and respond to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. In Uganda, the surveillance structure built for Ebola virus disease (EVD) has become a pillar in the COVID-19 response. This testing and tracing apparatus has limited disease spread to clusters with zero mortality compared with the neighboring East African countries. As more sub-Saharan countries implement social distancing to contain the outbreak, the interventions should be phased and balanced with health risk and socioeconomic situation. However, having a decision-making matrix would better guide the response team. These initial lessons from EVD-experienced Uganda may be helpful to other countries in the region.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Terna Gbahabo ◽  
Oluseye Samuel Ajuwon

This paper provides conceptual insights on the economic impact of project cost overrun and schedule delays on infrastructure procurement in developing countries with huge infrastructure deficit in Sub-Saharan Africa. Projects cost overruns and schedule delay are a major and widespread problem in infrastructure procurement the world over. It has received a lot of attention in the recent past. However, the literature reveals that extant studies on project overruns are heavily skewed towards causative factors, with little or no attention to the effects it has on the economy as a whole. The paucity of studies on the effects of project cost overrun and schedule delay will further reinforce the imperative to reacquaint policymakers and infrastructure developers, as well as project financiers with the gravity and import of the problem for infrastructural development in particular and the wider economy in general. The study undertakes an exploratory approach drawing from a wide range of secondary information and materials obtained from policy documents, study reports and peer-reviewed articles. The findings show that cost overrun and schedule delay in infrastructure procurement can have a damaging economic effect ranging from allocative inefficiency of scarce resources, further delays, contractual disputes, claims and litigation to project failure and total abandonment. The study recommends project management capacity-building for infrastructure developers, project managers as well as a number of innovative control mechanisms such as reference class forecasting, public-private partnership and computer-aided cost estimating tools including artificial neural networks, data mining, building information modelling as well as fuzzy neural inference model, genetic algorithms, and stochastic simulation to curb the menace of the problem.


Author(s):  
Saifullahi Adam Bayero ◽  
Babangida Danladi Safiyanu ◽  
Zaitun Sanusi Bakabe

Corona virus disease (COVID-19) which was declared by the World Health Organization as a global pandemic caused serious economic problem to all the countries including Sub-Saharan Africa. Given the negative impact of COVID19 on the world economy, this paper examined the impact of COVID19 related cases and death on stock exchange markets volatility in Sub-Saharan African countries. The study used the number of reported cases and death from four Sub-Saharan African countries viz Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana, reported cases and death from China and U.S. and all share index as a proxy of stock markets in four countries from 28 February 2020 to 21 December 2020. The study estimated GARCH 11, TGARCH 11, and EGARCH 11 since the variables are heteroskadestic in nature which makes the application of ARCH lausible; the selection criterion was based on Akaike, Schwarz, and Hannan info Criteria. The result shows that COVID19 confirmed cases and death do not affect the operation of the stock markets in Sub-Saharan African countries, but the volatility of the markets has increased within the period of analysis. Furthermore, Botswana and Kenya stock markets were affected by external cases from China. We therefore recommended that stock markets stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa should be more concern about health safety measures and be ready for any future pandemic that might affect the markets.


Bothalia ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 559-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Goldblatt

Iridaceae, a family of worldwide distribution, comprises some 1 500 species and 85 genera. It exhibits its greatest radiation in Sub-Saharan Africa, where over half the species and some 48 genera occur. 45 of which are endemic. All three major subfamilial taxa are represented in Africa, where Ixioideae are almost entirely restricted, with extensions into Eurasia. Areas of greatest concentration are either montane or in areas of winter rainfall. In southern Africa alone, there are some 850 species in 46 genera, making the family the fifth largest in the flora. In the Cape Floristic Region there are 620 species, and the family is the fourth largest in this area. All major infrafamilial groups occur in the Cape Region where most of the variability as well as generic radiation is encountered. The idea of a southern origin for Iridaceae in Africa is analysed systematically, and is correlated with the major climatic changes that occurred in Africa since the mid-Tertiary, and culminated in the seasonally dry climates along the west coast. The establishment of mediterranean climate in the southwest provided the stimulus for massive speciation and radiation of the family there. Plio-Pleistocene uplift along the eastern half of the African continent led to the establishment of substantial upland areas and allowed the spread of some genera, such as Romulea, Gladiolus, Moraea, and Hesperantha into tropical Africa. Short-distance dispersal probably accounts for the presence of genera such as Gladiolus, Gynandriris and Romulea in Eurasia.


Author(s):  
Suleimanu Usaini ◽  
Tolulope Kayode-Adedeji ◽  
Olufunke Omole ◽  
Tunji Oyedepo

Researches in clinical and medical science have shown that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B, and to some extent Hepatitis C viruses, constitute a major public health challenge in the Sub-Saharan Africa. This is without prejudice to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) that is more deadly than the other three put together, and had affected some countries in West Africa- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. There is little awareness and education via the mass media on some common viral infections in Nigeria like Hepatitis compared to HIV. Therefore, there is dire need for information, sensitisation and education on the viruses, means of transmission, preventive measures and also therapy. Edutainment is the fusion of education into entertainment programming which can come in form of drama, music, poetry and lots more, and it had been used as a platform to create awareness for positive reproductive health and HIV/AIDS by leading health organisations like WHO, USAID, DFID, SFH, and UNFPA. This paper therefore, examines why edutainment should be used and how it can be used to educate media audience in Nigeria on some viral infections that pose serious health risks and how they can live healthy lives.


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