scholarly journals No evidence for sylvatic cycles of chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses in African green monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) on St. Kitts, West Indies

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew John Valentine ◽  
Brenda Ciraola ◽  
Matthew Thomas Aliota ◽  
Michel Vandenplas ◽  
Silvia Marchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Rna Extraction ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
Polymorphic Region ◽  
Viral Isolation ◽  
Chlorocebus Aethiops ◽  
Arbovirus Vector ◽  
Green Monkey ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Blood Meals

Abstract Background Dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses (DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV) are transmitted in sylvatic transmission cycles between non-human primates and forest (sylvan) mosquitoes in Africa and Asia. It remains unclear if sylvatic cycles exist or could establish themselves elsewhere and contribute to the epidemiology of these diseases. The Caribbean island of St. Kitts has a large African green monkey (AGM) (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus) population and is therefore ideally suited to investigate sylvatic cycles. Methods We tested 858 AGM sera by ELISA and PRNT for virus-specific antibodies and collected and identified 9704 potential arbovirus vector mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were homogenized in 513 pools for testing by viral isolation in cell culture and by multiplex RT-qPCR after RNA extraction to detect the presence of DENV, CHIKV and ZIKVs. DNA was extracted from 122 visibly blood-fed individual mosquitoes and a polymorphic region of the hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene (HMBS) was amplified by PCR to determine if mosquitoes had fed on AGMs or humans. Results All of the AGMs were negative for DENV, CHIKV or ZIKV antibodies. However, one AGM did have evidence of an undifferentiated Flavivirus infection. Similarly, DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV were not detected in any of the mosquito pools by PCR or culture. AGMs were not the source of any of the mosquito blood meals. Conclusion Sylvatic cycles involving AGMs and DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV do not currently exist on St. Kitts.

The potential for Scombroid Poisoning from Ingestion of Selar crumenophthalmus due to Increased Histamine Levels in Grenada, West Indies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Chikweto ◽  
Lucian Peters ◽  
John McKibben ◽  
Kathryn Gibson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Fish Muscle ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
Morganella Morganii ◽  
Dna Evidence ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Photobacterium Damselae ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Time Point

Scombroid poisoning is a seafood-associated disease in which consumed fish contain high levels of histamine, resulting in allergic-like symptoms that range from mild to occasionally severe. To date, there is no published information on scombroid poisoning on the Caribbean island of Grenada, West Indies, particularly with respect to Selar crumenophthalmus. This is a common and heavily-consumed fish that has been implicated in scombroid poisoning in Hawaii. Preliminary data on S. crumenophthalmus in Grenada have demonstrated the presence of Photobacterium damselae, a bacterium associated with scombroid poisoning. The present study further tested S. crumenophthalmus purchased in Grenada for factors indicating the potential for scombroid poisoning, including increased histamine levels in fish muscle and DNA evidence of bacteria associated with scombroid poisoning. Results demonstrated histamine levels between 7,160 and 66,688 ppm after temperature abuse at 37°C for 19 hours (h), far exceeding the acceptable limit for both the USA (50 ppm) and European Union (100-200 ppm). Even after 4 h incubation at ambient temperature (28.9°C) during a time-point study, histamine levels exceeded USA acceptable limits (>50 ppm); and five samples used for temperature-abuse studies had elevated histamine levels (ranging from 141 to 2510 ppm) at 0 h. PCR and sequence analysis of bacteria in temperature-abused fish identified P. damselae and Morganella morganii, both of which have been documented as histamine-producing bacteria implicated in scombroid poisoning. These results suggest the potential for scombroid poisoning in Grenada and the need for promoting awareness about this disease.

The influence of geographic isolation on the skull of the green monkey ( Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus ) I. A comparison between the teeth of the St Kitts and the African green monkey

1950 ◽  
Vol 137 (887) ◽  
pp. 212-238 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Third Molar ◽  
African Green Monkey ◽  
Cercopithecus Aethiops ◽  
Genetic Constitution ◽  
The West ◽  
Green Monkey ◽  
Parent Stock ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Cercopithecus Aethiops Sabaeus

A quantitative analysis has been made of the dental dimensions and indices of ( a ) a collection of skulls of the green monkey ( Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus ) brought together from the island of St Kitts in the West Indies, and ( b ) a corresponding group of green monkey skulls collected in West Africa. The green monkey was introduced into St Kitts some 300 years ago; the African green monkey is the modern representative of its parent stock. Comparison shows that ( a ) the teeth of the green monkey in the West Indies are bigger than those of its present-day African cousin; ( b ) that there has been a decrease in the variance of the linear dimensions of the cheek teeth; and ( c ) that there has been an increase in the occurrence of such dental abnormalities as malposition, numerical variations, and variations in the number of roots of the third molar. These changes can be explained as an effect of selection acting on the original genetic constitution of the stock of green monkeys which became established in the Caribbean.

scholarly journals Tardigrada of the Caribbean island of Dominica (West Indies)

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (1s) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana G. Hinton ◽  
Harry A. Meyer ◽  
Brittany N. Soileau ◽  
Alison P. Dupuis
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
The Caribbean

Surinam Plantations in Dutch Archives

Itinerario ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-126
Author(s):  
Peter Boomgaard
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Good News ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
Indian History ◽  
East Indies ◽  
Plantation Economy ◽  
Indonesian Archipelago ◽  
Johns Hopkins University ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The University

The 1979 issue of Itinerario, (no. 2) opened with “A note on Suriname Plantation Archives at the University of Minnesota”, in which Richard Price of the Johns Hopkins University reported his discovery of some 2,000 manuscript pages on a number of Surinam plantations in the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. This, of course, is very good news. It is perhaps still better news that the Dutch archives contain vast and almost untapped (resources on a 200-odd plantations! I am, however, certainly not the first tone to make this ‘discovery’: Mrs. M.A.P. Meilink-Roelofsz not only mentioned it in her Ph.D. dissertation “Asian trade and European influence in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630”, but she even ordered part of the archives herself. It must be the unbridgeable gap between scholars interested in the East Indies /and those who study West Indian history, that her enthusiastic remarks on the availability of plantation material went unheeded. When nine years later Th. Mathews published his article “Los estuadios sobre historia economica del Caribe (1585 - 1910)”2, he mentioned the Dutch West Indies as a blank on the Caribbean map as far as economic (plantation) history is concerned. Since Mathews wrote his article the historiographic situation has improved only slightly, and it is an ironic comment on Surinam historical scholarship that tiny Curaçao's XlXth century plantation economy by now has found its historian, while the Surinam plantations are still in search of an author.

Slavery and Christianity in the British West Indies

1950 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Worthington Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
British West Indies ◽  
The West ◽  
The Caribbean

Slavery in the British Empire was always centered in the British West Indies. To a greater degree than in the Southern Thirteen Colonies, economic life in the West Indies depended upon Negro slavery, and the population of the islands soon became predominantly Negro. With the loss of the Thirteen Colonies after 1775, slavery within the British Empire became almost entirely confined to the Caribbean colonies. Until the emancipation of the slaves in 1833, British eyes were focused upon the West Indies whenever slavery was mentioned.

Caribbean Commission

1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-166
Keyword(s):  
Dominican Republic ◽  
United Nations ◽  
West Indies ◽  
West Indian ◽  
The West ◽  
French West Indies ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The United Nations

The third session of the West Indian Conference opened at Guadeloupe, French West Indies on December 1, 1948 and closed on December 14, after considering policy to be followed by the Caribbean Commission for the next two years. The Conference was attended by two delegates from each of the fifteen territories within the jurisdiction of the commission and observers invited by the commission from Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

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