scholarly journals High Temperature (30°C) Blocks Aerosol but Not Contact Transmission of Influenza Virus

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (11) ◽  
pp. 5650-5652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anice C. Lowen ◽  
John Steel ◽  
Samira Mubareka ◽  
Peter Palese
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
Contact Transmission ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Range Spread ◽  
Guinea Pig Model ◽  
The Tropics

ABSTRACT Influenza causes significant morbidity in tropical regions; however, unlike in temperate zones, influenza in the tropics is not strongly associated with a given season. We have recently shown that influenza virus transmission in the guinea pig model is most efficient under cold, dry conditions, which are rare in the tropics. Herein, we report the lack of aerosol transmission at 30°C and at all humidities tested. Conversely, transmission via the contact route was equally efficient at 30°C and 20°C. Our data imply that contact or short-range spread predominates in the tropics and offer an explanation for the lack of a well-defined, recurrent influenza season affecting tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

scholarly journals Humidity and respiratory virus transmission in tropical and temperate settings

2014 ◽  
Vol 143 (6) ◽  
pp. 1110-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. PAYNTER
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Respiratory Virus ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Indirect Contact ◽  
Environmental Survival ◽  
Contact Transmission ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Syncytial Virus ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Virus Survival

SUMMARYInfluenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are similarly structured viruses with similar environmental survival, but different routes of transmission. While RSV is transmitted predominantly by direct and indirect contact, influenza is also transmitted by aerosol. The cold, dry conditions of temperate winters appear to encourage the transmission of both viruses, by increasing influenza virus survival in aerosols, and increasing influenza and RSV survival on surfaces. In contrast, the hot, wet conditions of tropical rainy seasons appear to discourage aerosol transmission of influenza, by reducing the amount of influenza virus that is aerosolized, and probably also by reducing influenza survival in aerosol. The wet conditions of tropical rainy seasons may, however, encourage contact transmission of both viruses, by increasing the amount of virus that is deposited on surfaces, and by increasing virus survival in droplets on surfaces. This evidence suggests that the increased incidence of influenza and RSV in tropical rainy seasons may be due to increased contact transmission. This hypothesis is consistent with the observation that tropical rainy seasons appear to encourage the transmission of RSV more than influenza. More research is required to examine the environmental survival of respiratory viruses in the high humidity and temperature of the tropics.

scholarly journals Presence of Influenza Virus on Touch Surfaces in Kindergartens and Primary Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 222 (8) ◽  
pp. 1329-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Whui Fong ◽  
Nancy H L Leung ◽  
Jingyi Xiao ◽  
Daniel K W Chu ◽  
Samuel M S Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Ribonucleic Acid ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Viral Rna ◽  
Potential Risks

Abstract Backgrounds Influenza virus can survive on some surfaces, facilitating indirect person-to-person transmission. Methods We collected swab samples weekly from commonly touched surfaces in 7 kindergartens and primary schools during the 2017/2018 winter influenza season in Hong Kong. Results We detected influenza virus ribonucleic acid (RNA) in 12 of 1352 samples (<1%) collected from 7 of 11 classrooms (5 to 2 × 106 RNA copies/mL). Viral RNA was more frequently recovered from communal items inside classrooms such as bookshelves and doorknobs. Conclusions Surface contamination indicates the potential role of fomites in influenza virus transmission in schools. Communal items inside classrooms may cause greater potential risks of transmission during influenza epidemics.

scholarly journals Tropical Gothic: arts, humanities and social sciences

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Lundberg ◽  
Katarzyna Ancuta ◽  
Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Tropics

The Gothic is undergoing a pronounced resurgence in academic and popular cultures. Propelled by fears associated with massive social transformations produced by globalisation, the neoliberal order and environmental uncertainty – tropes of the Gothic resonate. The gothic allows us to delve into the unknown, the liminal, the unseen; into hidden histories and feelings. It calls up unspoken truths and secret desires.In the tropics, the gothic manifests in specific ways according to spaces, places, cultures and their encounters. Within the fraught geographies and histories of colonisation and aggression that have been especially acute across the tropical regions of the world, the tropical gothic engages with orientalism and postcolonialism. The tropics, as the region of the greatest biodiversity in the world, is under enormous stress, hence tropical gothic also engages with gothic ecocriticism, senses of space, landscape and place. Globalisation and neoliberalism likewise impact the tropics, and the gothic imagery of these ‘vampiric’ capitalist forces – which impinge upon the livelihoods, traditions and the very survival of peoples of the tropics – is explored through urban gothic, popular culture, posthumanism and queer theory.As the papers in this special issue demonstrate, a gothic sensibility enables humans to respond to the seemingly dark, nebulous forces that threaten existence. These papers engage with specific instances of Tropical Gothic in West Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, and the American Deep South.

scholarly journals Novel H7N9 Influenza Virus Shows Low Infectious Dose, High Growth Rate, and Efficient Contact Transmission in the Guinea Pig Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 1502-1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Gabbard ◽  
D. Dlugolenski ◽  
D. Van Riel ◽  
N. Marshall ◽  
S. E. Galloway ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Guinea Pig ◽  
High Growth ◽  
High Growth Rate ◽  
Pig Model ◽  
Infectious Dose ◽  
Contact Transmission ◽  
H7n9 Influenza ◽  
Guinea Pig Model

scholarly journals Rhizomes, Weak Links and Far Flung Networks: Empowering Women’s Space in Tropical Asia

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Lundberg
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Laureate ◽  
Weak Links ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Tropical Asia ◽  
House Arrest ◽  
The World ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Women's Networks

<p>The United Nations declaration of the ‘International Day of the Tropics’ intends to raise awareness of the importance of the tropical regions of the world – from their ecological and cultural diversity, to their unequal share of the burden of poverty. The date of the international day of the tropics on the 29th June each year, also celebrates the anniversary of the launch of the inaugural State of the Tropics 2014 report by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. This link to ‘The Lady’, as she is simply referred to by admirers, reminds me of an earlier time, twenty years previously, when Suu Kyi gave a recorded keynote address (she was still under house arrest) for the NGO Forum on Women which was also held in conjunction with the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, in China.</p><p><br />This connection between the tropics and women matters because many parts of the tropics continue to struggle against poverty and it is well documented that women and children bear the largest burden of poverty. The tropics are home to a reported 40% of the world’s population, with that population undergoing immense growth. Estimates are that by 2050 more than two-thirds of the world’s children under 15 years of age will be living in the tropics. This means the tropical zones of the world are also home to a vast number of women whose voices are striving to be heard.</p><p><br />This paper examines, in an exploratory voice, how women’s networks contribute to their empowerment, especially in regions of tropical Asia. Influenced by interdisciplinary theories of network science and the philosophy of rhizomatics, the paper analyses the power of networks across multiple plateaux. Starting with the networks evoked in a feminine artwork, the analysis flings across to women’s networks – those that are empowered and those that remained disempowered – and finally emerges through education networks.</p>

Puccinia helianthi. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

1965 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. F. Laundon
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Jerusalem Artichoke ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
Airborne Spores ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Puccinia Helianthi ◽  
The World ◽  
Stems And Leaves ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract A description is provided for Puccinia helianthi. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: On Helianthus, Heliopsis, Iva and Xanthium spp. DISEASE: Sunflower rust. On leaves and stems of sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke causing severe damage and defoliation to susceptible varieties at onset of maturity. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Common in temperate and sub-tropical regions, scarce or absent in the tropics (CMI Map 195, Ed. 2, 1959). TRANSMISSION: Urediospores and teliospores have been recorded on seed but no proof of transmission has been given (8: 791). May be carried over to next crop on stems and leaves left in the field and by teliospores on the soil surface (36: 591; 37: 498), and by volunteer plants (8: 792; 31: 187). High altitude air currents may have assisted spread of the pathogen from N. America to other parts of the world as urediospores have been found remarkably tolerant to low temperatures, remaining viable after 1, 652 days at -10°C to -22°C (40: 311; Sackston, 1960). Outbreaks of sunflower rust in Uruguay in 1956-57 were attributed to airborne spores from Argentina (37: 298). During a light wind, some 14, 000 urediospores may settle on a single sunflower leaf in 3 hr. (8: 791). Infection takes place most readily with dry urediospores, on dry leaves in a moist atmosphere (19: 161).

scholarly journals The Fleas Common on Rats in Different Parts of the World and the Readiness with which they Bite Man

1911 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriette Chick ◽  
C. J. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
Temperate Zone ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Xenopsylla Cheopis ◽  
The World ◽  
Complete Exclusion ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Different Parts

(1) As far as is at present known, the great majority of the fleas infesting Mus rattus and Mus decumanus in different parts of the world, belong to either the species Xenopsylla cheopis, Ceratophyllus fasciatus, Ceratophyllus anisus, Ctenopsylla musculi or Ctenophthalmus agyrtes or are comprised of some admixture of these five species.(2) Xenopsylla cheopis is the most prevalent in the tropics and sub-tropical regions and often occurs there to the almost complete exclusion of other species. It is common during summer and autumn in some of the warmer parts of the temperate zone, more especially in ports which have maritime intercourse with the tropics.(3) In the cooler regions Ceratophyllus fasciatus is the most universally distributed flea and is associated with more or less of Ctenopsylla musculi and Ctenophthalmus agyrtes according to the locality and the habitat of the particular rats.(4) In Japan Ceratophyllus fasciatus is replaced by Ceratophyllus anisus, a closely allied species.(5) The numerous other fleas which have been captured off rats are only occasional visitors.(6) Ceratophyllus fasciatus, like Xenopsylla cheopis, readily bites man. Out of 517 experiments 308 fed, or 59% were positive. In 101 experiments, under identical circumstances with a rat, 59, or 58.4% of the fleas fed.(7) The experiments with Ceratophyllus fasciatus were made upon eight persons and evidence was obtained of preference on the part of the insects for particular individuals.(8) 111 experiments were made with 46 specimens of Ctenopsylla musculi; only 4 fed=3.6% whereas 9 out of 11 fed on a mouse.(9) 68 specimens of Ctenophthalmus agyrtes were tried, in some cases upon three persons. None fed, whereas 11 out of 19 of the same fleas fed on a rat under identical conditions.

scholarly journals Very little influenza in the WHO European Region during the 2020/21 season, weeks 40 2020 to 8 2021

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia Adlhoch ◽  
Piers Mook ◽  
Favelle Lamb ◽  
Lisa Ferland ◽  
Angeliki Melidou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
World Health ◽  
European Region ◽  
Influenza Epidemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Viral Subtypes

Between weeks 40 2020 and 8 2021, the World Health Organization European Region experienced a 99.8% reduction in sentinel influenza virus positive detections (33/25,606 tested; 0.1%) relative to an average of 14,966/39,407 (38.0%; p < 0.001) over the same time in the previous six seasons. COVID-19 pandemic public health and physical distancing measures may have extinguished the 2020/21 European seasonal influenza epidemic with just a few sporadic detections of all viral subtypes. This might possibly continue during the remainder of the influenza season.

scholarly journals A spotlight on Bluetongue virus?

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Meredith Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Avian Influenza ◽  
Avian Influenza Virus ◽  
Bluetongue Virus ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Foot And Mouth Disease ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Mouth Disease Virus ◽  
The World

In the late 1990s, there were rumblings that Bluetongue virus (BTV) was on the move. The 2006 summer outbreak changed the way that the European economic and scientific communities viewed its importance. It shifted from being a neglected disease confined to the tropical regions of the world to a potentially important threat to agriculture. Suddenly, BTV was sharing research priorities and the limelight with other important viruses of animals such as foot-and-mouth disease virus and avian influenza virus.

scholarly journals Influenza season - is there anything to worry about?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 781-797
Author(s):  
Maciej Dubaj ◽  
Katarzyna Słomczyńska ◽  
Marta Karczmarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Annual Increase ◽  
Scientific Databases ◽  
The World ◽  
Acute Infectious Disease ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Individual

Influenza (the flu) is an acute infectious disease caused by viruses of the Orthomyxoviridae family, causing a wide variety of symptoms in humans, ranging from mildly disturbing daily activities to life-threatening pneumonia, depending on the state of their immune system. The annual increase in the incidence of this disease is called "the flu season", which is a periodic epidemic that affects people all around the world. Despite the individual, economic and epidemiological risks associated with infection with the influenza virus, the disease is often underestimated by people. The aim of this study was to present influenza as a threat to the health of individuals and society by describing the pathomechanisms of its formation and spread, available diagnostic and therapeutic options, as well as annual vaccinations as the most effective method of disease prevention. The current publications available in online scientific databases from many countries around the world were reviewed. Despite the large number of widely available research results on influenza, it is necessary to update them every year, as well as vaccines against this disease, to popularize knowledge about it, which will enable more effective epidemiological control of influenza.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document