Landscape changes occurring in Panama, a country whose geographic location and climate have historically supported arbovirus transmission, prompted the hypothesis that arbovirus prevalence increases ...with degradation of tropical forest habitats. Investigations at four variably degraded sites revealed a diverse array of potential mosquito vectors, several of which are known vectors of arbovirus pathogens. Overall, 675 pools consisting of 25,787 mosquitoes and representing 29 species from nine genera (collected at ground and canopy height across all habitats) were screened for cytopathic viruses on Vero cells. We detected four isolates of Gamboa virus (family:Bunyaviridae; genus:Orthobunyavirus) from pools of Aedeomyia squamipennis captured at canopy level in November 2012. Phylogenetic characterization of complete genome sequences shows the new isolates to be closely related to each other with strong evidence of reassortment among the M segment of Panamanian Gamboa isolates and several other viruses of this group. At the site yielding viruses, Soberanía National Park in central Panama, 18 mosquito species were identified, and the predominant taxa included A. squamipennis,Coquillettidia nigricans, and Mansonia titillans.
While there is increasing evidence on the trends and impacts of climate change, both globally and in Bangladesh, there is a limited quantitative analysis on the impacts of natural disasters on ...population health and the association with socio-economic characteristics. Using data from the 'Bangladesh Disaster-Related Statistics-2015', we assessed disaster-related health outcomes namely, injury, disability, and death. We applied three logistic regression models to examine the relationships between individual socio-economic characteristics, reported disaster-related injury, disability, and death. Our study found that 145.9 disaster-related injuries, 14.4 disabilities, and 21.0 deaths per 100,000 population were reported in Bangladesh over 2009-2014. Floods were responsible for the highest percentage of injury, disability, and death followed by thunderstorms. The elderly and children were more likely to suffer from disaster-related injuries compared to adults. Disaster preparedness was a protective factor for both disasters related injury and disability. We observed geographic variation in the number of injuries, disability, and death across the districts in Bangladesh. Policy-makers can use the study findings to strengthen risk-monitoring, assessment, and preparedness strategies and actions for extreme weather events related to the rapidly changing climate.
The last century has seen remarkable gains in life expectancy and population health outcomes, and significant declines in metrics such as child mortality. Yet traditional global health and public ...health agendas have not generally considered whether improvements in health were made at the expense of the natural systems on which we depend for our food, safe water, and clean air. As our planet is pushed closer to its limits, the potential trade-offs between health and the environment is forcing us to redefine our agendas, and consider 'planetary health'.
Since the publication of the Rockefeller-Lancet Commission Report on Planetary Health,1 interest in planetary health has grown. There are many research themes captured within planetary health, ...including the effects of climate change on human health; environmental change and food systems/human nutrition; land use change and vector-borne disease; urbanisation and mental health; zoonotic disease emergence; freshwater scarcity and communicable diseases; natural disasters and human displacement; and air quality impacts of deforestation.
Abstract Background Across Indonesia, fires are frequently used to clear forests and manage land for plantations and smallholder farms. The smoke from these fires contain particles that can work ...their way deep into the lungs and cause premature mortality from cardiovascular disease, stroke, and lung infections, along with many other health effects. These particles can travel hundreds of kilometres downwind, leading to high levels of exposure and adverse health effects in dense population centres across Equatorial Asia. However, accurate prediction of the public health effects from these fires is complicated by links between land use decisions in Indonesia, fire emissions, and transport from source regions to population centres. We aimed to quantify how future scenarios of land management could affect local and regional exposure to smoke concentrations. Methods We used satellite observations to quantify the relationships between land management and fires. Using these relationships, we then estimate the cumulative fire emissions of different land management strategies, including (1) “business-as-usual” trends in deforestation and development, (2) increased conversion of forests to oil palm and timber plantations, and (3) successful implementation of the Indonesian Government's moratorium on development and burning in fuel-rich peatlands. We subsequently use the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to estimate the public health implications of exposure to smoke concentrations from fires in these scenarios. Findings Our satellite-based analysis shows that most emissions arise from non-forested peatland landscapes with mosaics of degraded lands and agriculture. When combined with three future land management strategies, we find substantial declines in regional smoke concentrations and health impacts when Indonesian peatlands are protected from fires and future development. Results from these initial scenarios show the capabilities of our modelling framework in diverse situations and introduce the capabilities of an online decision support instrument for policymakers. Interpretation We are now synthesising these efforts to calculate the cumulative health and economic effects over coming decades associated with different land management scenarios in the region. Funding The Rockefeller Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages (HEAL) programme and the Winslow Foundation.
BACKGROUND: The use of animal host-targeted pesticide application to control blacklegged ticks, which transmit the Lyme disease bacterium between wildlife hosts and humans, is receiving increased ...attention as an approach to Lyme disease risk management. Included among the attractive features of host-targeted approaches is the reduced need for broad-scale pesticide usage. In the eastern USA, one of the best-known of these approaches is the corn-baited “4-poster” deer feeding station, so named because of the four pesticide-treated rollers that surround the bait troughs. Wildlife visitors to these devices receive an automatic topical application of acaricide, which kills attached ticks before they can reproduce. We conducted a 5-year controlled experiment to estimate the effects of 4-poster stations on tick populations in southeastern Massachusetts, where the incidence of Lyme disease is among the highest in the USA. METHODS: We deployed a total of forty-two 4-posters among seven treatment sites and sampled for nymph and adult ticks at these sites and at seven untreated control sites during each year of the study. Study sites were distributed among Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. The density of 4-poster deployment was lower than in previous 4-poster studies and resembled or possibly exceeded the levels of effort considered by county experts to be feasible for Lyme disease risk managers. RESULTS: Relative to controls, blacklegged tick abundance at treated sites was reduced by approximately 8.4%, which is considerably less than in previous 4-poster studies. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the longer duration and greater replication in our study compared to others, possible but still incomplete explanations for the smaller impact we observed include the lower density of 4-poster deployment as well as landscape and mammalian community characteristics that may complicate the ecological relationship between white-tailed deer and blacklegged tick populations.
Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mission to protect human health and the environment, the agency seeks to conduct research on the structure and function of ecosystems and to improve ...our understanding of the processes that contribute to the sustained health of the nation's ecosystems and the well-being of human populations. Changes in biodiversity can profoundly impact the ability of ecosystems to provide clean water, energy, food, recreation, and other services that contribute to human well-being. In addition, changes in biodiversity can affect the transmission of infectious disease to humans, particularly vectorborne diseases such as malaria and Lyme disease. The Environmental Protection Agency's new initiative supports interdisciplinary research to characterize the mechanisms that link biodiversity and human health and to use this knowledge to develop integrative tools and approaches for quantifying and predicting these relationships. Research on these links can have an important impact on our view of biodiversity and how we manage resources to protect human and ecosystem health.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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