scholarly journals Mapping Ebola in wild animals for better disease control

eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Funk ◽  
Peter Piot
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Risk Areas

Identifying the regions where wild animal populations could transmit the Ebola virus should help with efforts to prepare at-risk areas for future outbreaks.

scholarly journals Assessing Transmission of Antimicrobial-ResistantEscherichia coliin Wild Giraffe Contact Networks

2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Miller ◽  
Timothy J. Johnson ◽  
George Omondi ◽  
Edward R. Atwill ◽  
Lynne A. Isbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Resistance Genes ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Resistant Bacteria ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Animal Populations

ABSTRACTThere is growing evidence that anthropogenic sources of antibiotics and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria can spill over into natural ecosystems, raising questions about the role wild animals play in the emergence, maintenance, and dispersal of antibiotic resistance genes. In particular, we lack an understanding of how resistance genes circulate within wild animal populations, including whether specific host characteristics, such as social associations, promote interhost transmission of these genes. In this study, we used social network analysis to explore the forces shaping population-level patterns of resistantEscherichia coliin wild giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) and assess the relative importance of social contact for the dissemination of resistantE. colibetween giraffe. Of 195 giraffe sampled, only 5.1% harboredE. coliisolates resistant to one or more tested antibiotics. Whole-genome sequencing on a subset of resistant isolates revealed a number of acquired resistance genes with linkages to mobile genetic elements. However, we found no evidence that the spread of resistance genes among giraffe was facilitated by interhost associations. Giraffe with lower social degree were more likely to harbor resistantE. coli, but this relationship was likely driven by a correlation between an individual’s social connectedness and age. Indeed, resistantE. coliwas most frequently detected in socially isolated neonates, indicating that resistantE. colimay have a selective advantage in the gastrointestinal tracts of neonates compared to other age classes. Taken together, these results suggest that the maintenance of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in wild populations may, in part, be determined by host traits and microbial competition dynamics within the host.IMPORTANCEAntimicrobial resistance represents a significant threat to human health, food security, and the global economy. To fully understand the evolution and dissemination of resistance genes, a complete picture of antimicrobial resistance in all biological compartments, including natural ecosystems, is required. The environment and wild animals may act as reservoirs for anthropogenically derived resistance genes that could be transferrable to clinically relevant bacteria of humans and domestic animals. Our study investigated the possible transmission mechanisms for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria within a wild animal population and, more broadly, contributes to our understanding of how resistance genes are spread and maintained in natural ecosystems.

scholarly journals Aspects of the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis in badgers and cattle. I. The prevalence of infection in two wild animal populations in south-west England

1981 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Barrow ◽  
J. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Lymph Node ◽  
Bovine Tuberculosis ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
South West ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Two Populations ◽  
South West England

SUMMARYThe prevalence of infections caused by Mycobacterium bovis was estimated in two populations of wild animals in the south west of England. A variety of mammalian species was trapped on farm land where incidents of infection with tuberculosis had occurred in cattle. Bacteriological analysis of lymph node samples and lesions showed that the only animals acting as a reservoir for M. bovis were badgers. Examination of arthropod ectoparasites of infected badgers proved negative for M. bovis and suggests that these are unlikely to act as vectors in transmission of the disease.

scholarly journals The influence and enlightenment of five public health emergencies on public psychology since new century: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110022
Author(s):  
Zhifeng Wang ◽  
Dongmei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
The People

Background: Since the 21st century, humans have experienced five public health emergencies: the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), type A H1N1 influenza (H1N1), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Ebola virus disease (EVD), and the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19). They caused a large number of casualties and a wider psychological crisis, which might cause severe consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide. Aims: To reveal the law of formation of public psychological crisis in public health emergencies, and draw lessons from it. To provide ideas for effectively deal with these psychological crisis problems and fundamentally curbing the occurrence of public health emergencies. Method: Through the method of literature research, ‘public health incidents’, ‘psychological crisis’, ‘mental health’, ‘psychological intervention’, ‘SARS’, ‘H1N1’, ‘MERS’, ‘EVD’, and ‘COVID-19’ were used to search literatures in the databases such as PubMed, Springer, and Sciencedirect, and the literatures were summarized, sorted, and studied. Results: (1) The public health emergencies caused a universal psychological crisis. The main manifestations were depression, compulsion, despair, etc. The people involved mainly include patients, suspected isolated patients, medical staff, and the general public in the epidemic situation. (2) People’s psychological state often experienced stress stage, shock stage, acceptance, and reorganization. Only some susceptible individuals couldn’t complete effective psychological reconstruction, resulting in serious psychological disorders. Individual susceptibility is related to genetic factors, adversity, and traumatic stimuli experienced in early life. Conclusion: To reduce these psychological crisis problems, we should establish and improve the psychological crisis intervention or rescue system of public health emergencies, it was still necessary to live in harmony with nature, get rid of the inappropriate habit of preying on wild animals, in order to prevent the cross-species transmission of the virus between wild animals and humans, and to fundamentally avoid the occurrence of major infectious diseases.

scholarly journals China's Legal Response to Trafficking in Wild Animals: The Relationship between International Treaties and Chinese Law

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 408-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiwen Chang
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Food Culture ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Animal Products ◽  
Wild Fauna ◽  
The Government ◽  
Bear Bile

In China, the wild animals and animal products that are sold through illegal trafficking are mainly those that can be made into medicines; are raw materials in the form of ivory, rhinoceros horns, and turtle shells; and are edible or have ornamental value, such as birds, monkeys, turtles, and lizards. Due to its rapid economic development over the past decade, China has become one of the world's largest wildlife markets. The main reasons for trafficking are a lack of viable substitutes for raw materials used in traditional Chinese medicines (e.g., bear bile, bear bile powder, pangolin, and other products); a preference in traditional food culture for delicacies made from wildlife; and of the private consumption by some rich and corrupt government officials of tiger's meat, bear's paw, pangolin and other wild animal products—bear's paw and pangolin being the most popular. This type of wild animal trafficking endangers the safety of animal species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and damages the international image of the government and people of China. Since 2013, under the frame of construction of ecological civilization, China has taken stricter measures on legislation, administrative enforcement, judicial adjudication, and international cooperation on prevention and punishment of illegal trafficking.

scholarly journals A voice for wild animals: Collaborative governance and human–wildlife conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-262
Author(s):  
Katie Woolaston
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Regulatory Mechanism ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Collaborative Processes ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Wildlife Conflict

Animal lawyers in Australia and around the world often struggle to find room in law to participate in decision-making and give animals a voice. Collaborative governance is a regulatory mechanism that has the potential to overcome this struggle. This ‘new governance’ is of growing importance in environmental and natural resource management, premised on decentralised decision-making and removal of permanent hierarchies. This article will utilise two case studies to outline the benefits of legally integrated collaborative processes for wild animal welfare, including the allocation of a permanent voice in regulation for animal advocates and the ability to promote internalisation of animal-friendly norms.

scholarly journals The Impact of ‘Selfie’ Tourism on the Behaviour and Welfare of Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloths

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Carder ◽  
Tinka Plese ◽  
Fernando Machado ◽  
Suzanne Paterson ◽  
Neil Matthews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Bradypus Variegatus ◽  
Focal Observation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Physical Manipulation

The use of wild animals as photo props is prevalent across the globe and is widely recognised to represent a potential animal welfare concern. However, detailed information regarding the specific impacts of such activity on wild animal behaviour is currently lacking. Herein, we investigated how brown-throated three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus) were handled by tourists, and how sloths behaved during wildlife ‘selfies’ taken in Manaus, Brazil and Puerto Alegria and Iquitos in Peru. In total, we observed 17 sloths (during 70 focal observations) that were provided for use in wildlife selfies on 34 different tours. We found that an average number of 5 people held each sloth during each focal observation. For 48.6% of the time the sloths were handled in a way which involved physical manipulation of the sloths’ head and/or limbs and/or being held by the claws. From the eight different types of sloth behaviour observed, we found that the two types performed for the longest average duration of time were surveillance (55.3%) and limb stretching (12.6%). Our findings show that when being handled sloths were frequently held in ways that may compromise their welfare. Although to date the behaviour of sloths while being handled has not been reported in any published literature, in this study we document certain behaviours which may act as indicators of compromised welfare. We suggest that our data provides a potential baseline for future study into the behaviour and welfare of sloths.

Skin Self-Screening Camera for Veterans With Spinal Cord Injury

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Olney ◽  
Jennifer Leestma ◽  
Andrew Hansen ◽  
John Ferguson ◽  
Mary Murphy Kruse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Adaptive Design ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Skin Integrity ◽  
Pressure Injury ◽  
Risk Areas ◽  
Screening Device

Veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) are at high risk for developing debilitating pressure injuries, particularly to their seated areas (e.g. coccyx, sacral and gluteal) [1]. To prevent development of a pressure injury the Veteran with SCI is encouraged to invoke multiple prevention strategies [2]. One recommended prevention strategy is to conduct twice daily skin self-screenings. Skin self-screening is usually conducted in the bed, prior to arising in the morning and prior to sleep in the evening. The current method to conduct skin self-screening utilizes a mirror at the end of a long handle. The Veteran with SCI examines at-risk areas for changes in their skin integrity such as discoloration, swelling, or changes in skin texture. This method can take up to 20 minutes to complete. In the event there is a change to skin integrity, the pressure injury prevention protocol advises the Veteran with SCI to off-load that particular area for at least 24 hours [3]. Further, he/she is advised to consult with their skin specialist if the area does not resolve to normal color or texture within that next 24 hour period. The consequences of ignoring an early stage pressure injury can be serious e.g. weeks to months of hospitalization attempting to heal the injury, tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthcare costs, possible surgery to close the wound and possibly death [4]. Informal interviews with Veterans with SCI clarified and validated that conducting skin screening with the mirror could be very challenging due to barriers such as: not having a baseline image to compare to; the mirror image not being viewable to the user due to lack of user flexibility or body habitus; the mirror does not easily allow a complete view of all the at-risk areas; the user not being able to discern what he/she is actually viewing possibly due to mirror image distortion and limited visual acuity. The need for a better skin self-screening device was evidenced by the advanced pressure injuries Veterans presented to their healthcare providers. Finding a pressure injury in the early stages of development and intervening immediately, such as repositioning, can improve the trajectory of the injury [5]. Therefore the project goal was to offer a better tool for and improve the efficacy of skin self-screening for the Veterans with SCI. To overcome the identified barriers, our team of VA clinicians and engineers of the Minneapolis Adaptive Design & Engineering (MADE) program invented such a device at the Minneapolis VA. This paper presents the patient centered iterative process that was used to develop a skin self-screening device and the future directions for this technology.

scholarly journals Mixtures as a Fungicide Resistance Management Tactic

2014 ◽  
Vol 104 (12) ◽  
pp. 1264-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank van den Bosch ◽  
Neil Paveley ◽  
Femke van den Berg ◽  
Peter Hobbelen ◽  
Richard Oliver
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Fungicide Resistance ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Resistance Management ◽  
Relative Effect ◽  
Resistance Evolution ◽  
Modes Of Action ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Effective Life

We have reviewed the experimental and modeling evidence on the use of mixtures of fungicides of differing modes of action as a resistance management tactic. The evidence supports the following conclusions. 1. Adding a mixing partner to a fungicide that is at-risk of resistance (without lowering the dose of the at-risk fungicide) reduces the rate of selection for fungicide resistance. This holds for the use of mixing partner fungicides that have either multi-site or single-site modes of action. The resulting predicted increase in the effective life of the at-risk fungicide can be large enough to be of practical relevance. The more effective the mixing partner (due to inherent activity and/or dose), the larger the reduction in selection and the larger the increase in effective life of the at-risk fungicide. 2. Adding a mixing partner while lowering the dose of the at-risk fungicide reduces the selection for fungicide resistance, without compromising effective disease control. The very few studies existing suggest that the reduction in selection is more sensitive to lowering the dose of the at-risk fungicide than to increasing the dose of the mixing partner. 3. Although there are very few studies, the existing evidence suggests that mixing two at-risk fungicides is also a useful resistance management tactic. The aspects that have received too little attention to draw generic conclusions about the effectiveness of fungicide mixtures as resistance management strategies are as follows: (i) the relative effect of the dose of the two mixing partners on selection for fungicide resistance, (ii) the effect of mixing on the effective life of a fungicide (the time from introduction of the fungicide mode of action to the time point where the fungicide can no longer maintain effective disease control), (iii) polygenically determined resistance, (iv) mixtures of two at-risk fungicides, (v) the emergence phase of resistance evolution and the effects of mixtures during this phase, and (vi) monocyclic diseases and nonfoliar diseases. The lack of studies on these aspects of mixture use of fungicides should be a warning against overinterpreting the findings in this review.

scholarly journals The Ebola outbreak, 2013–2016: old lessons for new epidemics

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1721) ◽  
pp. 20160297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cordelia E. M. Coltart ◽  
Benjamin Lindsey ◽  
Isaac Ghinai ◽  
Anne M. Johnson ◽  
David L. Heymann
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
West African ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Haemorrhagic Fever ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Epidemiological Parameters

Ebola virus causes a severe haemorrhagic fever in humans with high case fatality and significant epidemic potential. The 2013–2016 outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in scale, being larger than all previous outbreaks combined, with 28 646 reported cases and 11 323 reported deaths. It was also unique in its geographical distribution and multicountry spread. It is vital that the lessons learned from the world's largest Ebola outbreak are not lost. This article aims to provide a detailed description of the evolution of the outbreak. We contextualize this outbreak in relation to previous Ebola outbreaks and outline the theories regarding its origins and emergence. The outbreak is described by country, in chronological order, including epidemiological parameters and implementation of outbreak containment strategies. We then summarize the factors that led to rapid and extensive propagation, as well as highlight the key successes, failures and lessons learned from this outbreak and the response. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic: data, decision-making and disease control’.

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