scholarly journals Urban Vulnerability Assessment for Pandemic Surveillance—The COVID-19 Case in Bogotá, Colombia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3402
Author(s):  
Jeisson Prieto ◽  
Rafael Malagón ◽  
Jonatan Gomez ◽  
Elizabeth León
Keyword(s):  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Vulnerability Factors ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Urban Vulnerability

A pandemic devastates the lives of global citizens and causes significant economic, social, and political disruption. Evidence suggests that the likelihood of pandemics has increased over the past century because of increased global travel and integration, urbanization, and changes in land use with a profound affectation of society–nature metabolism. Further, evidence concerning the urban character of the pandemic has underlined the role of cities in disease transmission. An early assessment of the severity of infection and transmissibility can help quantify the pandemic potential and prioritize surveillance to control highly vulnerable urban areas in pandemics. In this paper, an Urban Vulnerability Assessment (UVA) methodology is proposed. UVA investigates various vulnerability factors related to pandemics to assess the vulnerability in urban areas. A vulnerability index is constructed by the aggregation of multiple vulnerability factors computed on each urban area (i.e., urban density, poverty index, informal labor, transmission routes). This methodology is useful in a-priori evaluation and development of policies and programs aimed at reducing disaster risk (DRR) at different scales (i.e., addressing urban vulnerability at national, regional, and provincial scales), under diverse scenarios of resources scarcity (i.e., short and long-term actions), and for different audiences (i.e., the general public, policy-makers, international organizations). The applicability of UVA is shown by the identification of high vulnerable areas based on publicly available data where surveillance should be prioritized in the COVID-19 pandemic in Bogotá, Colombia.

scholarly journals Urban Vulnerability Assessment for Pandemic surveillance: The COVID-19 case in Bogotá, Colombia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeisson Prieto ◽  
Rafael Malagón ◽  
Jonatan Gomez ◽  
Elizabeth León
Keyword(s):  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Urban Vulnerability ◽  
Urban Character

AbstractA Pandemic devastates the life of global citizens and causes significant economic, social, and political disruption. Evidence suggests that Pandemic’s likelihood has increased over the past century because of increased global travel and integration, urbanization, and changes in land use. Further, evidence concerning the urban character of the Pandemic has underlined the role of cities in disease transmission. An early assessment of the severity of infection and transmissibility can help quantify the Pandemic potential and prioritize surveillance to control of urban areas in Pandemics. In this paper, an Urban Vulnerability Assessment (UVA) methodology is proposed. UVA investigates the possible vulnerable factors related to Pandemics to assess the vulnerability in urban areas. A vulnerability index is constructed by the aggregation of multiple vulnerability factors computed on each urban area (i.e., urban density, poverty index, informal labor, transmission routes). UVA provides insights into early vulnerability assessment using publicly available data. The applicability of UVA is shown by the identification of high-vulnerable areas where surveillance should be prioritized in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bogotá, Colombia.

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

Animals ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Exploring Policy Options for a New Rural America: Conference Synthesis

2002 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
S. R. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Policy Options ◽  
Rural America ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
High Government ◽  
Policy Priority

This Conference has more then lived up to its billing, exploring policy options for a new rural America but in addition identifying the basis for a new framework for rural policy. Evidence that a new policy framework is needed is abundant (Stauber). In one way or another, rural areas of North America and of most of the developed world have for at least the past century experienced secular decline compared to urban areas. This has occurred during a period of high government transfers or subsidies, both direct and from policy interventions that have distorted the functioning of markets. It is clear that the systemic discrepancy between rural and urban populations/areas is a public policy priority. It is just as clear that there has not been a consensus on how to address these development and economic issues. Much funding and technical assistance has been allocated with little apparent impact on the condition of rural areas and rural people.

scholarly journals Analysis of urban vulnerability as a tool for cultural heritage preservation. The cases of the medium-sized historical ensembles in Andalusia

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 171-185
Author(s):  
Daniel Navas Carrillo ◽  
Blanca Del Espino Hidalgo ◽  
Juan-Andrés Rodríguez-Lora ◽  
Teresa Pérez-Cano
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Heritage Preservation ◽  
Sequential Approach ◽  
Intermediate Scale ◽  
Urban Vulnerability ◽  
Complementary Resource ◽  
Cultural Heritage Preservation

This paper presents the urban vulnerability assessment as a complementary resource in heritage preservation policies, through the analysis of the thirty-nine medium-sized cities that have been listed as Historical Ensemble in Andalusia (Spain). The research seeks to make a sequential approach that addresses, from the general –the conceptual framework on urban vulnerability and the characterization of the analysis sample– to the particular  –the analysis of the socio-economic, socio-demographic or residential vulnerability applied to the intermediate scale which has not been in-deep studied yet–. For this, it proposes to adopt the methodology implemented by the Spanish Ministry of Development in the Atlas of Urban Vulnerability, providing a territorial lecture of the results. The study concludes that medium-sized cities do not present a level of vulnerability lower to the largest ones but detecting specific urban weaknesses that should be addressed to improve the response of these cities to heritage preservation.

scholarly journals Groundwater vulnerability assessment to pollution in Kasihan, Bantul Regency: A comparative method study (GOD, SINTACS and DRASTIC)

2020 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 02012
Author(s):  
Ignasius Loyola Setyawan Purnama ◽  
Vincentia Anindha Primacintya
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Level ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Rock Type ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Drastic Method ◽  
Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Aquifer Type

Groundwater vulnerability to pollution refers to the ease with which pollutants reach groundwater, in other words indicating the level of ease of an area to experience pollution. At present, the theme is one of the themes that attracts many researchers because pollution is more frequent in an area. The purpose of this study is to assess groundwater vulnerability in the study area for pollution using the GOD method and conduct a study of 3 groundwater vulnerability assessments, to determine the most appropriate assessment to be applied in the study area. The method used to determine groundwater vulnerability to pollution is GOD, which uses three parameters to assess the vulnerability of groundwater, namely aquifer type, rock type above aquifer and groundwater level. Furthermore, the results of the vulnerability assessment using the GOD method are compared with the vulnerability assessment according to the SINTACS and DRASTIC methods that have been carried out before in this area. The results showed that the variation of groundwater vulnerability index values in the study area according to the GOD method was from 0.35 to 0.63. Locations that are classified as medium vulnerability are generally located in the limestone Sentolo Formation, while locations that are classified as high vulnerability class are located in the volcanic rock of Yogyakarta Formation. Noting the results of determining groundwater vulnerability from the three methods, it can be said that the three methods are suitable for assessing groundwater vulnerability in the study area. However, looking at the distribution pattern of the level of pollution, the DRASTIC method can provide more detailed results related to the level of vulnerability.

scholarly journals Relatedness and genetic structure of big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) maternity colonies in an urban-wildland interface provides insight into rabies transmission dynamics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faith M. Walker ◽  
Colin J. Sobek ◽  
Camille E. Platts-McPharlin ◽  
Carol L. Chambers
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Radio Telemetry ◽  
Eptesicus Fuscus ◽  
Geographic Mobility ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
Urocyon Cinereoargenteus ◽  
Disease Exposure

AbstractBig brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) are the bat species most frequently found to be rabid in North America and are a key source of sylvatic rabies in wildlife. Females can form summer maternity colonies in urban areas, often using access holes in the exterior of buildings to roost in relatively large numbers. In Flagstaff, Arizona, these roosts are commonly found in houses adjacent to golf courses, where habitat quality (food, water, shelter) is high for bats and for mesocarnivores such as striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Periodic rabies outbreaks in Flagstaff involving all three of these mammals are primarily caused by an E. fuscus variant of the disease. However, little is known about E. fuscus social behavior during the summer months and how it may drive space use and hence disease exposure to conspecifics and mesocarnivores. To address this knowledge gap, we collected 88 unique genetic samples via buccal swabs from E. fuscus captured at four maternity roosts surrounding a golf course during summer of 2013. We used 7 microsatellite loci to estimate genetic relatedness among individuals and genetic structure within and among colonies in order to infer whether females selected roosts based on kinship, and used genetics and radio telemetry to determine the frequency of roost switching. We found roost switching through genetics (two mother and adult daughter pairs at the same and different roosts) and telemetry, and no evidence of elevated genetic relatedness within colonies or genetic structure between colonies. These results have important implications for disease transmission dynamics in that social cohesion based on relatedness does not act to constrain the virus to a particular roost area. Instead, geographic mobility may increase disease exposure to neighboring areas. We discuss mitigating actions for bat conservation and public health.

Research on the Assessment of Disaster-Carrying Bodies’ Comprehensive Vulnerability on Variable Fuzzy Clustering

2014 ◽  
Vol 998-999 ◽  
pp. 1227-1230
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Dong Ming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Data Processing ◽  
Fuzzy Clustering ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Index System ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Index Model ◽  
Disaster Vulnerability ◽  
Urban Disaster ◽  
Risk Research ◽  
The Index System

The disaster-carrying bodies’ comprehensive vulnerability is a key to the risk research of urban disaster. Vulnerability is a comprehensive attribute of the hazard-carrying bodies and is affected deeply by society, economic and environment. The index system of the vulnerability assessment is worked out with the method of variable fuzzy clustering. The comprehensive vulnerability index model is structured, and the comprehensive vulnerability is calculated in the following example. Comparative to the existing research, variable fuzzy clustering and comprehensive vulnerability index model are more objective in data processing and the influence of the clustering categories is reduced.

Social Networks

Urban Health ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 248-255
Author(s):  
Abby E. Rudolph
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Risk Of Disease ◽  
Barriers To Health ◽  
Distinguishing Features

One of the distinguishing features of urban environments is the close proximity of their residents. There is ample evidence that our social networks influence how we think, feel, and behave and, through doing so, shape our health. Therefore, the challenge and opportunity for urban areas is how to foster social relationships and interactions that promote healthier behaviors, reduce the risk of disease transmission, and remove or serve as buffers against existing barriers to health service utilization. This chapter provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the role of social networks in public health and provides two examples how social network analysis has been used to better understand two major public health concerns in urban settings.

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