A Survey of Potentially Pathogenic-Incriminated Arthropod Vectors of Health Concern in Botswana

Arthropod vectors play a crucial role in the transmission of many debilitating infections, causing significant morbidity and mortality globally. Despite the economic significance of arthropods to public health, public knowledge on vector biology, ecology and taxonomic status remains anecdotal and largely unexplored. The present study surveyed knowledge gaps regarding the biology and ecology of arthropod vectors in communities of Botswana, across all districts. Results showed that communities are largely aware of individual arthropod vectors; however, their ‘potential contribution’ in disease transmission in humans, livestock and wildlife could not be fully attested. As such, their knowledge was largely limited with regards to some aspects of vector biology, ecology and control. Communities were strongly concerned about the burden of mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies and ticks, with the least concerns about fleas, bedbugs and lice, although the same communities did not know of specific diseases potentially vectored by these arthropods. Knowledge on arthropod vector control was mainly limited to synthetic chemical pesticides for most respondents, regardless of their location. The limited knowledge on potentially pathogen-incriminated arthropod vectors reported here has large implications for bridging knowledge gaps on the bio-ecology of these vectors countrywide. This is potentially useful in reducing the local burden of associated diseases and preventing the risk of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases under global change.

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The complete mitochondrial genome of Pseudanoplocephala crawfordi and a comparison with closely related cestode species

Journal of Helminthology ◽

10.1017/s0022149x15000802 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 90 (5) ◽

pp. 588-595 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

G.H. Zhao ◽

H.B. Wang ◽

Y.Q. Jia ◽

W. Zhao ◽

X.F. Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Complete Mitochondrial Genome ◽

Taxonomic Status ◽

Amino Acid Sequences ◽

Health Concern ◽

Phylogenetic Position ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Economic Significance ◽

The Family ◽

Mt Genome ◽

Rna Genes

AbstractPseudanoplocephala crawfordi is an important zoonotic cestode of economic significance and public health concern. In spite of its significance as a pathogen, the systematics, genetics, epidemiology and biology of this parasite remain poorly understood. In the present study, we sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of P. crawfordi, which is 14,192 bp long and encodes 36 genes, including 12 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and two ribosomal RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated amino acid sequences using the Bayesian inference (BI) method showed that P. crawfordi was closely related to the family Hymenolepididae. Considering that the taxonomic status of P. crawfordi has been controversial when based only on morphological features, the mt genome obtained here will provide novel molecular markers to ascertain the phylogenetic position of this parasite accurately.

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THE 2019 NOVEL PANDEMIC OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19): A STUDY OF EXISTING EVIDENCE IN THE INDIAN POPULATION

Era s journal of medical research ◽

10.24041/ejmr2020.33 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 199-204

Author(s):

Shrikant Verma ◽

Mohammad Abbas ◽

Sushma Verma ◽

Syed Tasleem Raza ◽

Farzana Mahdi

Keyword(s):

Disease Transmission ◽

Indian Population ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Clinical Signs ◽

Case Fatality ◽

Public Health Emergency ◽

The World ◽

And Control ◽

General Wellbeing ◽

Different Parts

A novel spillover coronavirus (nCoV), with its epicenter in Wuhan, China's People's Republic, has emerged as an international public health emergency. This began as an outbreak in December 2019, and till November eighth, 2020, there have been 8.5 million affirmed instances of novel Covid disease2019 (COVID-19) in India, with 1,26,611 deaths, resulting in an overall case fatality rate of 1.48 percent. Coronavirus clinical signs are fundamentally the same as those of other respiratory infections. In different parts of the world, the quantity of research center affirmed cases and related passings are rising consistently. The COVID- 19 is an arising pandemic-responsible viral infection. Coronavirus has influenced huge parts of the total populace, which has prompted a global general wellbeing crisis, setting all health associations on high attentive. This review sums up the overall landmass, virology, pathogenesis, the study of disease transmission, clinical introduction, determination, treatment, and control of COVID-19 with the reference to India.

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Communicable and Other Infectious Diseases

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190846756.013.48 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Markus Frischhut

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

European Union ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Eu Law ◽

The European Union ◽

Ethical Perspective ◽

Health Measures ◽

Environment Agency ◽

And Control

This chapter discusses the most important features of EU law on infectious diseases. Communicable diseases not only cross borders, they also often require measures that cross different areas of policy because of different vectors for disease transmission. The relevant EU law cannot be attributed to one sectoral policy only, and thus various EU agencies participate in protecting public health. The key agency is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Other important agencies include the European Environment Agency; European Food Safety Authority; and the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency. However, while integration at the EU level has facilitated protection of the public's health, it also has created potential conflicts among the different objectives of the European Union. The internal market promotes the free movement of products, but public health measures can require restrictions of trade. Other conflicts can arise if protective public health measures conflict with individual human rights. The chapter then considers risk assessment and the different tools of risk management used in dealing with the challenges of infectious diseases. It also turns to the external and ethical perspective and the role the European Union takes in global health.

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Predictors of free-roaming domestic dogs' contact network centrality and their relevance for rabies control

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-92308-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte Warembourg ◽

Guillaume Fournié ◽

Mahamat Fayiz Abakar ◽

Danilo Alvarez ◽

Monica Berger-González ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Disease Transmission ◽

Small World ◽

Domestic Dogs ◽

Contact Network ◽

Potential Contribution ◽

Dog Ownership ◽

Contact Patterns ◽

Rabies Control ◽

The Social ◽

Study Sites

AbstractFree roaming domestic dogs (FRDD) are the main vectors for rabies transmission to humans worldwide. To eradicate rabies from a dog population, current recommendations focus on random vaccination with at least 70% coverage. Studies suggest that targeting high-risk subpopulations could reduce the required vaccination coverage, and increase the likelihood of success of elimination campaigns. The centrality of a dog in a contact network can be used as a measure of its potential contribution to disease transmission. Our objectives were to investigate social networks of FRDD in eleven study sites in Chad, Guatemala, Indonesia and Uganda, and to identify characteristics of dogs, and their owners, associated with their centrality in the networks. In all study sites, networks had small-world properties and right-skewed degree distributions, suggesting that vaccinating highly connected dogs would be more effective than random vaccination. Dogs were more connected in rural than urban settings, and the likelihood of contacts was negatively correlated with the distance between dogs’ households. While heterogeneity in dog's connectedness was observed in all networks, factors predicting centrality and likelihood of contacts varied across networks and countries. We therefore hypothesize that the investigated dog and owner characteristics resulted in different contact patterns depending on the social, cultural and economic context. We suggest to invest into understanding of the sociocultural structures impacting dog ownership and thus driving dog ecology, a requirement to assess the potential of targeted vaccination in dog populations.

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A Legionnaires’ Disease Cluster in a Private Building in Italy

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18136922 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (13) ◽

pp. 6922

Author(s):

Maria Luisa Ricci ◽

Maria Cristina Rota ◽

Maria Grazia Caporali ◽

Antonietta Girolamo ◽

Maria Scaturro

Keyword(s):

Severe Pneumonia ◽

Control Measures ◽

Health Concern ◽

Human Consumption ◽

Domestic Water ◽

Quality Of Water ◽

Legionnaires Disease ◽

Prevention And Control Measures ◽

Private Homes ◽

And Control

Legionnaires’ disease (LD) is a severe pneumonia caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Legionella. This is a major public health concern and infections are steadily increasing worldwide. Several sources of infection have been identified, but they have not always been linked to human isolates by molecular match. The well-known Legionella contamination of private homes has rarely been associated with the acquisition of the disease, although some patients never left their homes during the incubation period. This study demonstrated by genomic matching between clinical and environmental Legionella isolates that the source of an LD cluster was a private building. Monoclonal antibodies and sequence-based typing were used to type the isolates, and the results clearly demonstrated the molecular relationship between the strains highlighting the risk of contracting LD at home. To contain this risk, the new European directive on the quality of water intended for human consumption has introduced for the first time Legionella as a microbiological parameter to be investigated in domestic water systems. This should lead to a greater attention to prevention and control measures for domestic Legionella contamination and, consequently, to a possible reduction in community acquired LD cases.

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An Investigation of the General Population’s Self-Reported Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance in a Cross-European Setting

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052402 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2402

Author(s):

Aaron Lawson ◽

Marie Vaganay-Miller ◽

Robert Cameron

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Hand Hygiene ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Hygiene Practice ◽

Hygiene Behaviour ◽

Level Of Understanding ◽

The Uk ◽

Travel Abroad ◽

And Control

Every year, thousands of people from the UK travel to other countries for work and leisure. Europe, and particularly Spain, is one of the most popular travel destinations for people from the UK. However, it is known that travel to other countries can enhance the risk of communicable disease transmission from person to person, especially when a new one emerges. Adequate hand hygiene behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being a simple, effective method in preventing the spread of communicable diseases that may be contracted during travel abroad. There is a well-established body of work investigating hand hygiene practice and compliance in community settings, but no recent studies have examined the hand hygiene practice and compliance of the general population when travelling abroad or in a cross-European context. The findings of this study indicated that most UK members of the general population when travelling abroad have a good level of understanding of the importance of adequate hand hygiene practice and compliance and its role regarding communicable disease prevention and control. As such, self-reported levels of compliance were high. Similar findings were made for Spanish members of the general population. However, while self-reported perceptions of adequacy of hand hygiene performance were relatively high, particularly among UK respondents, this was not supported by responses specifically focused on hand hygiene behaviour. However, differences in self-reported adequacy regarding the importance of handwashing versus hand drying, the number of steps that should be followed and the length of time that should be spent washing and drying hands were found for each group. This suggests that self-reported compliance may reflect intention to practice hand hygiene rather than true compliance. It also suggests that there are gaps in knowledge regarding the adequate method of hand hygiene among the cohort as a whole, and indeed these differences may account be a factor in for the high transmission rates of communicable disease when travelling abroad.

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Pseudogymnoascus destructans growth in wood, soil and guano substrates

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-80707-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jenny Urbina ◽

Tara Chestnut ◽

Jennifer M. Allen ◽

Taal Levi

Keyword(s):

Dna Extraction ◽

Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽

Transmission Risk ◽

Pseudogymnoascus Destructans ◽

White Nose Syndrome ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Pathogen Persistence ◽

Tenfold Increase ◽

And Control

AbstractUnderstanding how a pathogen can grow on different substrates and how this growth impacts its dispersal are critical to understanding the risks and control of emerging infectious diseases. Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) causes white-nose syndrome (WNS) in many bat species and can persist in, and transmit from, the environment. We experimentally evaluated Pd growth on common substrates to better understand mechanisms of pathogen persistence, transmission and viability. We inoculated autoclaved guano, fresh guano, soil, and wood with live Pd fungus and evaluated (1) whether Pd grows or persists on each (2) if spores of the fungus remain viable 4 months after inoculation on each substrate, and (3) whether detection and quantitation of Pd on swabs is sensitive to the choice to two commonly used DNA extraction kits. After inoculating each substrate with 460,000 Pd spores, we collected ~ 0.20 g of guano and soil, and swabs from wood every 16 days for 64 days to quantify pathogen load through time using real-time qPCR. We detected Pd on all substrates over the course of the experiment. We observed a tenfold increase in pathogen loads on autoclaved guano and persistence but not growth in fresh guano. Pathogen loads increased marginally on wood but declined ~ 60-fold in soil. After four months, apparently viable spores were harvested from all substrates but germination did not occur from fresh guano. We additionally found that detection and quantitation of Pd from swabs of wood surfaces is sensitive to the DNA extraction method. The commonly used PrepMan Ultra Reagent protocol yielded substantially less DNA than did the QIAGEN DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit. Notably the PrepMan Ultra Reagent failed to detect Pd in many wood swabs that were detected by QIAGEN and were subsequently found to contain substantial live conidia. Our results indicate that Pd can persist or even grow on common environmental substrates with results dependent on whether microbial competitors have been eliminated. Although we observed clear rapid declines in Pd on soil, viable spores were harvested four months after inoculation. These results suggest that environmental substrates and guano can in general serve as infectious environmental reservoirs due to long-term persistence, and even growth, of live Pd. This should inform management interventions to sanitize or modify structures to reduce transmission risk as well early detection rapid response (EDRR) planning.

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Agro-Environmental Determinants of Leptospirosis: A Retrospective Spatiotemporal Analysis (2004−2014) in Mahasarakham Province (Thailand)

Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease ◽

10.3390/tropicalmed6030115 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 115

Author(s):

Jaruwan Viroj ◽

Julien Claude ◽

Claire Lajaunie ◽

Julien Cappelle ◽

Anamika Kritiyakan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Animal Health ◽

Spatiotemporal Analysis ◽

Health Concern ◽

Intersectoral Collaboration ◽

The Public ◽

Additive Modeling ◽

The One ◽

And Control ◽

Northeastern Thailand

Leptospirosis has been recognized as a major public health concern in Thailand following dramatic outbreaks. We analyzed human leptospirosis incidence between 2004 and 2014 in Mahasarakham province, Northeastern Thailand, in order to identify the agronomical and environmental factors likely to explain incidence at the level of 133 sub-districts and 1,982 villages of the province. We performed general additive modeling (GAM) in order to take the spatial-temporal epidemiological dynamics into account. The results of GAM analyses showed that the average slope, population size, pig density, cow density and flood cover were significantly associated with leptospirosis occurrence in a district. Our results stress the importance of livestock favoring leptospirosis transmission to humans and suggest that prevention and control of leptospirosis need strong intersectoral collaboration between the public health, the livestock department and local communities. More specifically, such collaboration should integrate leptospirosis surveillance in both public and animal health for a better control of diseases in livestock while promoting public health prevention as encouraged by the One Health approach.

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Detection of Beta-Lactam-Resistant Escherichia coli and Toxigenic Clostridioides difficile Strains in Wild Boars Foraging in an Anthropization Gradient

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11061585 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1585

Author(s):

Laila Darwich ◽

Chiara Seminati ◽

Jorge R. López-Olvera ◽

Anna Vidal ◽

Laia Aguirre ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Carbapenem Resistance ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Health Concern ◽

Natural Environments ◽

Beta Lactam ◽

Wild Boars ◽

Clostridioides Difficile

Disease transmission among wild boars, domestic animals and humans is a public health concern, especially in areas with high wild boar densities. In this study, fecal samples of wild boars (n = 200) from different locations of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona were analyzed by PCR to explore the frequency of β-lactamases and extended cephalosporin and carbapenem resistance genes (ESBLs) in Escherichia coli strains and the presence of toxigenic Clostridioides difficile. The prevalence of genes conferring resistance to β-lactam antimicrobials was 8.0% (16/200): blaCMY-2 (3.0%), blaTEM-1b (2.5%), blaCTX-M-14 (1.0%), blaSHV-28 (1.0%), blaCTX-M-15 (0.5%) and blaCMY-1 (0.5%). Clostridioides difficile TcdA+ was detected in two wild boars (1.0%), which is the first report of this pathogen in wild boars in Spain. Moreover, the wild boars foraging in urban and peri-urban locations were more exposed to AMRB sources than the wild boars dwelling in natural environments. In conclusion, the detection of E. coli carrying ESBL/AmpC genes and toxigenic C. difficile in wild boars foraging in urban areas reinforces the value of this game species as a sentinel of environmental AMRB sources. In addition, these wild boars can be a public and environmental health concern by disseminating AMRB and other zoonotic agents. Although this study provides the first hints of the potential anthropogenic sources of AMR, further efforts should be conducted to identify and control them.

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Morphological, Anatomical and Cytological Studies of some Moss Species from Nigeria

Notulae Scientia Biologicae ◽

10.15835/nsb9310056 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 404-413

Author(s):

Abolade Oluremi BOLAJI ◽

Julius Olaoye FALUYI

Keyword(s):

Chromosome Numbers ◽

Taxonomic Status ◽

Knowledge Gaps ◽

Moss Species ◽

Anatomical Studies ◽

First Time

Morphological, anatomical and chromosome studies of Hyophila crenulata C, Mull. Ex Dus, Thuidium gratum (P. Beauv) Jaeg., Barbula lambarenensis P. Vard.. Stereophyllum nitense Mitt. and Bryum coronatum Schwaegr from Nigeria, were carried out with a view to bridging some knowledge gaps that exist in their characterization and providing insightful information that could be useful in elucidating their taxonomic status. The morphological and anatomical studies revealed several gametophytic and sporophytic attributes which have not been previously reported and which were diagnostic for the moss species studied. The chromosome studies revealed the chromosome numbers to be Hyophila crenulata n = 4; Thuidium gratum n = 12 (10 + 2 m); Barbula lambarenensis n = 3; Stereophyllum nitense n = 9; and Bryum coronatum n = 10. The study concluded that the details of the morphological and anatomical descriptions as well as the chromosome numbers being reported for the first time in this study for the moss species studied could be very useful in their identification and taxonomic delimitation.

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