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The Black Death and Other Pandemics
Published in Scott M. Jackson, Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology, 2023
Numerous other infectious diseases have been postulated as the cause of the Athenian plague. In 2005, researchers claimed to have extracted Salmonella typhi DNA from the teeth of the ancient remains in a mass grave, leading to the conclusion that typhoid fever was the cause of the plague. However, convincing arguments have come forth that the research was flawed.4 And the constellation of mucosal and skin findings described by Thucydides are not seen in typhoid fever, which has “rose spots” (small red flat spots on the torso), as its only skin finding. Other candidates for the Athenian plague are bubonic plague, epidemic typhus, and meningococcemia. Thucydides neglected to mention glandular swellings (buboes) as a feature of the disease, effectively ruling out bubonic plague. Another interesting hypothesis is that the Athenian plague was caused by Ebola hemorrhagic fever.5 Olson et al. point out that the plague was believed by the Greeks to come from Africa. Ebola is also associated with a sudden onset of fever, headache, and pharyngitis, followed by cough, vomiting, diarrhea, severe weakness, a red rash, and hemorrhage from various orifices. Arboviral (mosquito-borne) diseases, which can lead to encephalitis, should also be considered.
What is an epidemic, a pandemic?
Published in Edward M. Rafalski, Ross M. Mullner, Healthcare Analytics, 2022
Increased air travel and the accompanying increases in worldwide trade allow rapid transit of not only people and goods, but vectors and diseases as well. Trade has increased more than forty-fold in the last century alone, and passenger air travel has increased five-fold in the last 40 years. This has led not only to the obvious problem of expanding geography of pathogens and their vectors to new geographies as they hitch-hike on planes, trains, and boats but also to homogenization of vector populations and resultant decreased barriers for disease spread. Numerous mosquito-borne diseases such as Chikungunya fever, West Nile virus, and Zika virus disease have spread worldwide over the last several decades not only because infected humans transported the causative agents during travel allowing introduction into mosquitoes in a new geography but also because the particular mosquito species that can host these viruses had also spread across a wider geography through increased opportunities for travel and ever-increasing connectivity. Indigenous mosquito species that may not have been able to serve as hosts for these viruses have been, in many cases, competed out or now co-exist with the relevant vectors.
Community and environment as determinants of health
Published in Ben Y.F. Fong, Martin C.S. Wong, The Routledge Handbook of Public Health and the Community, 2021
Thomas Man-chi Dao, Bean S.N. Fu
Over the past 100 years, the average Earth surface temperature is in a rising trend (Rohde et al., 2013). These observations are described as global warming, and the postulated attributable cause is due to the increase in emission of greenhouse gases from industrial activities, including carbon dioxide, nitric oxides and ozone. Global warming can cause significantly harmful effects on human health, notably an increase in vector-borne diseases, heat waves and extreme weathers like drought and hurricanes. Vector-borne diseases are often transmitted by arthropods like mosquitoes and ticks. Mosquitoes tend to breed faster in a warmer environment with more precipitations. The mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis are found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions, often compounded with poor water sanitation.
Oxitec and MosquitoMate in the United States: lessons for the future of gene drive mosquito control
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2021
Cynthia E. Schairer, James Najera, Anthony A. James, Omar S. Akbari, Cinnamon S. Bloss
Mosquito-borne diseases are major public health concerns worldwide. Pathogens responsible for a collection of severe diseases, including malaria, dengue, and Zika, are transmitted to humans by mosquito vectors. While historically associated with tropical climates, the vectors for many of these diseases have recently been identified in new locales. Specifically, populations of Aedes mosquitoes, vectors of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses, have been found in parts of California since 2013 [1]. This is part of a growing area of the US that has become home to Aedes mosquitoes [2]. Although the pathogens that make these mosquitoes dangerous are not yet prevalent in the US, the presence of the vectors signals that this longstanding global public health threat is expanding to new geographical regions. Should infected travelers arrive in these expanded regions and be bitten, these viruses may spread.
Public health concerns over gene-drive mosquitoes: will future use of gene-drive snails for schistosomiasis control gain increased level of community acceptance?
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2020
The emergence of mosquito resistance to a range of available insecticides has been a considerable cause for concern in mosquito control effort [65,66]. The occurrence leads to persistently high vector densities, thus perpetuating biting nuisance and causing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases to continue unabated. Mosquitoes that are genetically configured to resist pathogens may abate disease spread but will retain their ability to develop resistance to insecticides and participate in spreading insecticide-resistance genes within the target vector population. On the contrary, niclosamide (Bayluscide®) is a potent chemical molluscicide that is active against snail vectors. Despite that the knowledge of its mechanisms of action remains sparsely understood [67], the molluscicide has officially been in use for snail control for nearly three decades and up till now, there is no evidence of snail resistance to niclosamide [68–70]. Although, over 30 years ago, Sullivan et al., [71] demonstrated the eventuality of B. glabrata selection for niclosamide tolerance, it was recently stated by WHO [72] that evolution of snail resistance to niclosamide is of little concern, especially with the current limited use of molluscicides which keeps selective pressure for resistance below threshold. Nevertheless, the WHO recommends a 2-year-interval resistance monitoring in areas where niclosamide is being frequently used [72]. A major relief and advantage here is that chemical mollusciciding may still be applied successfully to complement or mitigate the TSR snail strategy without the threat of vector resistance to the molluscicide.
Larvicidal activity of Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles Synthesis using Cuscuta reflexa extract against malaria vector (Anopheles stephensi)
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2020
Anopheles stephensi is a primary vector of malaria in urban India. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. According to the latest WHO estimates, released in December 2016, there were 212 million cases of malaria in 2015 and 429 000 deaths [1]. The problem has a complex face and it has to be handled carefully. It is essential to control the mosquito population to prevent people from mosquito-borne diseases. These diseases can be controlled by targeting the causative parasites and pathogens. It is easier to control vectors than parasites. Therefore, biological control can thus provide an effective and environmental friendly approach. In this view, biological synthesis of NPs has an advantage over conventional chemical and physical methods. In the recent times, ‘green’ method for the synthesis of NPs has become an area of highest interest. The focus is applied in this direction because the use of conventional chemical methods is expensive and requires the use of chemical compounds or organic solvents as reducing agents. Conventional chemical reduction method involves various toxic chemicals for the synthesis of NPs which can later be a reason for various health issues due to their toxicity, while green synthesis method is an eco-friendly approach to produce NPs. Green synthesis method is free of contaminants thus positive for biological applications where purity is a matter of concern. Plant product and plant synthesized nanoparticles are being used to control the mosquito population. For this problem, in the present study, C. reflexa was selected for the study, because of its medicinal values.