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Epidemic Disease (epidemic + disease)
Selected AbstractsEpidemic disease caused by Equine herpesvirus-1: recommendations for prevention and controlEQUINE VETERINARY EDUCATION, Issue 3 2002G. P. Allen First page of article [source] Parasites in the food web: linking amphibian malformations and aquatic eutrophicationECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 7 2004Pieter T. J. Johnson Abstract Emerging diseases are an ever-growing affliction of both humans and wildlife. By exploring recent increases in amphibian malformations (e.g. extra or missing limbs), we illustrate the importance of food web theory and community ecology for understanding and controlling emerging infections. Evidence points to a native parasite, Ribeiroia ondatrae, as the primary culprit of these malformations, but reasons for the increase have remained conjectural. We suggest that the increase is a consequence of complex changes to aquatic food webs resulting from anthropogenic disturbance. Our results implicate cultural eutrophication as a driver of elevated parasitic infection: (1) eutrophication causes a predator-mediated shift in snail species composition toward Planorbella spp., (2) Planorbella are the exclusive first intermediate hosts of R. ondatrae and (3) Ribeiroia infection is a strong predictor of amphibian malformation levels. Our study illustrates how the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on epidemic disease can be mediated through direct and indirect changes in food web structure. [source] Repellent studies with Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and human olfactory tests on 19 essential oils from Corsica, FranceFLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009J. Drapeau Abstract In order to reduce the risk of getting infected with any epidemic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, repellent products are often used to protect populations at risk. The repellent potential of 19 essential oils from the island of Corsica, France, was evaluated in a bio-assay with the mosquito Aedes aegypti, in order to assess the ,space repellent' properties of these oils. Lavendula stoechas, Helichrysum italicum (leaves) and Laurus nobilis oils showed a capability of reducing the attractivity of a human finger for yellow fever mosquitoes in a Y-tube olfactometer. In addition to the behavioural studies on mosquitoes, two tests on the olfactory perception of these 19 oils were performed, involving 25 female and 25 male human volunteers. The aspects studied were the ,hedonic dimension' of these oils and their acceptance as a final fragrance for a repellent formulation. The experiments yielded promising results concerning both aspects for three oils, from Calamintha nepeta, Laurus nobilis and Rosmarinus officinalis, with minor differences between male and female participants. Laurus nobilis oil was the only oil tested fulfilling both properties: a spatial repellent effect on Aedes aegypti and acceptance by the volunteers for its integration in a repellent product. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that Calamintha nepeta oil has a slower evaporation rate in comparison to the Laurus nobilis and Rosmarinus officinalis oils. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Review: Neuropathology of acute phase encephalitis lethargica: a review of cases from the epidemic periodNEUROPATHOLOGY & APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009L. L. Anderson Introduction: Encephalitis lethargica (EL), an epidemic disease of the early 20th century, has continued to be diagnosed sporadically since that time, including a report of 20 new cases in 2004. Many of the recent case reports state that the primary neuropathology of acute EL consists of inflammatory changes and lesions within the midbrain, basal ganglia and substantia nigra. However, the neuropathology of acute EL cases from the epidemic period was actually much more widespread. Methods: In order to characterize the neuropathology of acute phase EL, we developed a database of EL pathology based on 112 cases from the years 1915 to 1940, of which most died within 2 weeks of EL onset. Results: Our analysis revealed that cortical damage was prevalent in 75% of the 112 cases; damage to the meninges and brainstem occurred in approximately half of the cases; and the substantia nigra was damaged in only 13% of these acute cases. We also found that after 1921, damage to cranial nerve nuclei was not reported. An analysis of the neuropathology and clinical symptoms revealed little correlation. Conclusions: Based on these findings, putative modern cases of acute EL with MRI/CT indicated lesions confined solely to the midbrain, brainstem, and/or basal ganglia should not be considered, consistent with that reported during epidemic period. [source] Contact in the Andes: Bioarchaeology of systemic stress in colonial Mórrope, PeruAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Haagen D. Klaus Abstract The biocultural interchange between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres beginning in the late fifteenth century initiated an unprecedented adaptive transition for Native Americans. This article presents findings from the initial population biological study of contact in the Central Andes of Peru using human skeletal remains. We test the hypothesis that as a consequence of Spanish colonization, the indigenous Mochica population of Mórrope on the north coast of Peru experienced elevated systemic biological stress. Using multivariate statistical methods, we examine childhood stress reflected in the prevalence of linear enamel hypoplasias and porotic hyperostosis, femoral growth velocity, and terminal adult stature. Nonspecific periosteal infection prevalence and D30+/D5+ ratio estimations of female fertility characterized adult systemic stress. Compared to the late pre-Hispanic population, statistically significant patterns of increased porotic hyperostosis and periosteal inflammation, subadult growth faltering, and depressed female fertility indicate elevated postcontact stress among both children and adults in Mórrope. Terminal adult stature was unchanged. A significant decrease in linear enamel hypoplasia prevalence may not indicate improved health, but reflect effects of high-mortality epidemic disease. Various lines of physiological, archaeological, and ethnohistoric evidence point to specific socioeconomic and microenvironmental factors that shaped these outcomes, but the effects of postcontact population aggregation in this colonial town likely played a fundamental role in increased morbidity. These results inform a model of postcontact coastal Andean health outcomes on local and regional scales and contribute to expanding understandings of the diversity of indigenous biological variation in the postcontact Western Hemisphere. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Severe acute respiratory syndrome mimicking acute abdomenANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 3 2004Cheung San Tjiu Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a novel epidemic disease. The clinical presentation can sometimes be very non-specific. The present study reports a case of SARS, which presented as acute abdomen, warranting laparotomy. The atypical presentation in the present case reminded us of the importance of strict infection control measures in all surgery-related specialist workplaces. [source] Foreign Policy Gaps between Citizens and LeadersINTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2000Benjamin I. Page Persistent gaps between the policy preferences of leaders and those of citizens are problematic from the point of view of democratic theory. Examination of the foreign policy preferences of samples of citizens and leaders from seven Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) surveys between 1974 and 1998 reveals many differences of 30, 40, and even 50 percentage points. Often a majority of the public has disagreed with a majority of leaders. Some of the same gaps have persisted over the full 24-year period of these surveys. The pattern of gaps is considerably more complicated than a simple difference in degree of commitment to internationalism. Citizens have generally put a higher priority than leaders on expanding domestic programs like Social Security, crime fighting, and health care, and have been more eager to cut foreign economic aid. But there have not been substantial gaps with respect to defense spending or military aid. More members of the public than leaders emphasize foreign policy goals related to protecting Americans' jobs and ensuring Americans' health and physical security (e.g., from terrorism, drugs, and epidemic diseases). Citizens have been more reluctant than leaders to use U.S. troops in most circumstances, but the opposite is true of situations involving Latin America. Citizens have been more willing to bomb than to commit troops, though not indiscriminately so, and many more citizens than leaders oppose selling weapons abroad. Fewer members of the public than leaders have favored most kinds of cooperative relationships with adversary countries. But more members of the public than leaders generally support the United Nations, and more favor multilateralism in general. About the same number of citizens as leaders have supported NATO. Some of these gaps may reflect lower levels of attention to foreign affairs and lower levels of information among the public than among leaders, but many of the gaps may instead reflect different values and interests. In cases where the public is ill-informed, persistent gaps suggest a failure of leaders to educate and persuade. Where public opinion is well-informed and deliberative, democratic theory would seem to call for responsiveness by policymakers. [source] The distribution of mountain hares Lepus timidus in Europe: a challenge from brown hares L. europaeus?MAMMAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2003CARL-GUSTAF THULIN ABSTRACT 1.,Throughout the most recent glacial period (Weichsel), the mountain hare Lepus timidus had a continuous distribution in the tundra habitat south of the ice-rim. When the ice retreated, mountain hares colonized deglaciated land, and spread over northern Europe. 2.,Since the Weichsel, the mountain hare's distribution in Europe has been gradually reduced and at present comprises Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, high altitudes in the Alps, isolated forests in eastern Poland, most of Fennoscandia and from the Baltic countries eastwards through Russia. Declines during the last century have been observed in Sweden and Russia. 3.,This review defines and evaluates causes for this gradual reduction and fragmentation of the mountain hare's distribution, with special focus on interactions with brown hares Lepus europaeus. The relative importance of diseases, predation, cultivation and interactions with other herbivores than brown hares are discussed. 4.,A plausible cause of the possible permanent disappearance of mountain hares in Europe appears to be exclusion by interspecific competition and hybridization with, and/or epidemic diseases mediated by, the congeneric brown hare. [source] The effect of sex on risk of mortality during the Black Death in London, A.D. 1349,1350AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Sharon N. DeWitte Abstract The Black Death of 1347,1351 was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history, and though it is frequently assumed that the epidemic killed indiscriminately, recent research suggests that the disease was selective, at least with respect to frailty. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Black Death was similarly selective with respect to biological sex,that is, did either sex face an elevated risk during the epidemic or were men and women at equal risk of dying? A sample of 298 victims of the Black Death, from the East Smithfield cemetery in London, is compared to a pre-Black Death normal mortality sample of 194 individuals from two Danish urban cemeteries, St Mikkel Church (Viborg) and St Albani Church (Odense). To assess the effect of sex on risk of death, sex is modeled as a covariate affecting the Gompertz,Makeham model of adult mortality. The results suggest that sex did not strongly affect risk of death in either the normal mortality or Black Death samples. These results are important for improving our understanding of Black Death mortality patterns. This is essential for understanding the effects the Black Death had on European populations, and the methods used here can potentially be informatively applied to investigations of other episodes of epidemic diseases in past populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||