Coral Diversity and the Severity of Disease Outbreaks: A Cross-Regional Comparison ofAcroporaWhite Syndrome in a Species-Rich Region (American Samoa) with a Species-Poor Region (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands)

The dynamics of the coral disease,Acroporawhite syndrome (AWS), was directly compared on reefs in the species-poor region of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the species-rich region of American Samoa (AS) with results suggesting that biodiversity, which can affect the abundance of susceptible hosts, is important in influencing the impacts of coral disease outbreaks. The diversity-disease hypothesis predicts that decreased host species diversity should result in increased disease severity of specialist pathogens. We found that AWS was more prevalent and had a higher incidence within the NWHI as compared to AS. IndividualAcroporacolonies affected by AWS showed high mortality in both regions, but case fatality rate and disease severity was higher in the NWHI. The site within the NWHI had a monospecific stand ofA. cytherea; a species that is highly susceptible to AWS. Once AWS entered the site, it spread easily amongst the abundant susceptible hosts. The site within AS contained numerousAcroporaspecies, which differed in their apparent susceptibility to infection and disease severity, which in turn reduced disease spread. Manipulative studies showed AWS was transmissible through direct contact in threeAcroporaspecies. These results will help managers predict and respond to disease outbreaks.

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Host size and proximity to diseased neighbours drive the spread of a coral disease outbreak in Hawai‘i

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2017.2265 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 285 (1870) ◽

pp. 20172265 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jamie M. Caldwell ◽

Megan J. Donahue ◽

C. Drew Harvell

Keyword(s):

Disease Risk ◽

Coral Disease ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Disease Outbreak ◽

Host Size ◽

Disease Spread ◽

Wildlife Diseases ◽

Infectious Individual ◽

Force Of Infection ◽

Affected Tissue

Understanding how disease risk varies over time and across heterogeneous populations is critical for managing disease outbreaks, but this information is rarely known for wildlife diseases. Here, we demonstrate that variation in host and pathogen factors drive the direction, duration and intensity of a coral disease outbreak. We collected longitudinal health data for 200 coral colonies, and found that disease risk increased with host size and severity of diseased neighbours, and disease spread was highest among individuals between 5 and 20 m apart. Disease risk increased by 2% with every 10 cm increase in host size. Healthy colonies with severely diseased neighbours (greater than 75% affected tissue) were 1.6 times more likely to develop disease signs compared with colonies with moderately diseased neighbours (25–75% affected tissue). Force of infection ranged from 7 to 20 disease cases per 1000 colonies (mean = 15 cases per 1000 colonies). The effective reproductive ratio, or average number of secondary infections per infectious individual, ranged from 0.16 to 1.22. Probability of transmission depended strongly on proximity to diseased neighbours, which demonstrates that marine disease spread can be highly constrained within patch reefs.

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Outbreak of coral disease in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Coral Reefs ◽

10.1007/s00338-005-0493-3 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 481-481 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

G. S. Aeby

Keyword(s):

Coral Disease ◽

Hawaiian Islands ◽

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

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Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268819001912 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 147 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

F. Mboussou ◽

P. Ndumbi ◽

R. Ngom ◽

Z. Kassamali ◽

O. Ogundiran ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Disease Onset ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Case Fatality ◽

World Health ◽

African Region ◽

Regional Office ◽

Member States ◽

Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽

The World

Abstract The WHO African region is characterised by the largest infectious disease burden in the world. We conducted a retrospective descriptive analysis using records of all infectious disease outbreaks formally reported to the WHO in 2018 by Member States of the African region. We analysed the spatio-temporal distribution, the notification delay as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with these outbreaks. In 2018, 96 new disease outbreaks were reported across 36 of the 47 Member States. The most commonly reported disease outbreak was cholera which accounted for 20.8% (n = 20) of all events, followed by measles (n = 11, 11.5%) and Yellow fever (n = 7, 7.3%). About a quarter of the outbreaks (n = 23) were reported following signals detected through media monitoring conducted at the WHO regional office for Africa. The median delay between the disease onset and WHO notification was 16 days (range: 0–184). A total of 107 167 people were directly affected including 1221 deaths (mean case fatality ratio (CFR): 1.14% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07%–1.20%)). The highest CFR was observed for diseases targeted for eradication or elimination: 3.45% (95% CI 0.89%–10.45%). The African region remains prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. It is therefore critical that Member States improve their capacities to rapidly detect, report and respond to public health events.

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Evidence on Producer Bargaining in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Lobster Fishery

Marine Resource Economics ◽

10.1086/mre.18.2.42629392 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 195-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

RALPH E. TOWNSEND ◽

SAMUEL G. POOLEY ◽

RAYMOND CLARKE

Keyword(s):

Hawaiian Islands ◽

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands ◽

Lobster Fishery

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Epidemiology and management of bacterial leaf spot on watermelon caused byPseudomonas syringae

Plant Disease ◽

10.1094/pdis-11-16-1628-re ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 101 (7) ◽

pp. 1222-1229 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

E. A. Newberry ◽

L. Ritchie ◽

B. Babu ◽

T. Sanchez ◽

K. A. Beckham ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Severity ◽

Pseudomonas Syringae ◽

Leaf Spot ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Field Trials ◽

Multiple Regression Model ◽

Bacterial Leaf Spot ◽

Progress Curve ◽

Cool Conditions

Bacterial leaf spot of watermelon caused by Pseudomonas syringae has been an emerging disease in the southeastern United States in recent years. Disease outbreaks in Florida were widespread from 2013 to 2014 and resulted in foliar blighting at the early stages of the crop and transplant losses. We conducted a series of field trials at two locations over the course of two years to examine the chemical control options that may be effective in management of this disease, and to investigate the environmental conditions conducive for bacterial leaf spot development. Weekly applications of acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) foliar, ASM drip, or copper hydroxide mixed with ethylene bis-dithiocarbamate were effective in reducing the standardized area under the disease progress curve (P < 0.05). Pearson’s correlation test demonstrated a negative relationship between the average weekly temperature and disease severity (–0.77, P = 0.0002). When incorporated into a multiple regression model with the square root transformed average weekly rainfall, these two variables accounted for 71% of the variability observed in the weekly disease severity (P < 0.0001). This information should be considered when choosing the planting date for watermelon seedlings as the cool conditions often encountered early in the spring season are conducive for bacterial leaf spot development.

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INAPPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY What Is in It for the Rich?

Macroeconomic Dynamics ◽

10.1017/s1365100507060166 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 487-518 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

ANA FERNANDES ◽

KRISHNA B. KUMAR

Keyword(s):

Green Revolution ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Welfare Effects ◽

Luxury Good ◽

Rich Region ◽

The Poor ◽

Poor Region ◽

Inferior Good ◽

The Rich ◽

Local Use

In this paper, we investigate incentives, other than altruism, that developed countries have for improving developing country technologies. We propose a simple model of international trade between two regions, in which individuals have preferences over an inferior good and a luxury good. The poor region has a comparative advantage in the production of the inferior good. Even when costly adaptation of the technology to the poor region's characteristics is required—making the technology inappropriate for local use—there are parameter configurations for which the rich region has an incentive to incur this cost. It benefits from a terms-of-trade improvement and from greater specialization in the luxury good. Indeed, there are cases where the rich region would prefer to improve the poor region's technology for producing the inferior good rather than its own. We apply our model to the Green Revolution and provide a quantitative assessment of its welfare effects.

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A New Era of Epidemiology: Digital Epidemiology for Investigating the COVID-19 Outbreak in China

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/21685 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (9) ◽

pp. e21685

Author(s):

Zonglin He ◽

Casper J P Zhang ◽

Jian Huang ◽

Jingyan Zhai ◽

Shuang Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Disease Outbreaks ◽

Face Mask ◽

Digital Data ◽

Disease Spread ◽

Health Measures ◽

Digital Epidemiology

A novel pneumonia-like coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has swept across China and the world. Public health measures that were effective in previous infection outbreaks (eg, wearing a face mask, quarantining) were implemented in this outbreak. Available multidimensional social network data that take advantage of the recent rapid development of information and communication technologies allow for an exploration of disease spread and control via a modernized epidemiological approach. By using spatiotemporal data and real-time information, we can provide more accurate estimates of disease spread patterns related to human activities and enable more efficient responses to the outbreak. Two real cases during the COVID-19 outbreak demonstrated the application of emerging technologies and digital data in monitoring human movements related to disease spread. Although the ethical issues related to using digital epidemiology are still under debate, the cases reported in this article may enable the identification of more effective public health measures, as well as future applications of such digitally directed epidemiological approaches in controlling infectious disease outbreaks, which offer an alternative and modern outlook on addressing the long-standing challenges in population health.

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