Ecohealth最新文献

Vibrio vulnificus is a Gram-negative bacterium and an emerging pathogen globally distributed in brackish and marine waters. It can be transmitted to humans through contaminated food, which causes primary septicemia, or through wound exposure, causing necrotizing fasciitis. Increased abundance and range expansion have recently been associated with climate change. Further understanding of the spatial epidemiology of V. vulnificus is necessary, and species distribution modeling is a technique to correlate all the factors related to the spread of V. vulnificus. Through meta-analysis aided by Rayyan, extraction of environmental variables from Bio-ORACLE, and global mapping using QGIS and MaxEnt, a global model of V. vulnificus suitability is projected under current and future climate scenarios. The model indicates that sea surface minimum chlorophyll-a, mean dissolved oxygen, mean pH, and mean salinity are good predictors of V. vulnificus occurrence, with minimum chlorophyll-a and mean salinity having the greatest percent contribution at 53.3 and 31.6, respectively. Specific geographic locations with moderate to high V. vulnificus suitability include the west coast of Colombia, the coast of Uruguay, the northeastern coast of Brazil, the coast of Maryland and Louisiana, USA, the coast of China, the Black Sea, the south coast of South Africa, and the coast of Poland and Lithuania. A northward shift in V. vulnificus populations is observed due to climate change driven by plankton migration and decreasing salinity. These findings highlight the potential of these suitability maps for future V. vulnificus surveillance, and disease protection and control.

Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are a major health concern in low- and middle-income countries like Nepal. This cross-sectional study, conducted from January to June 2021 in Kavrepalanchok District, Nepal, evaluated IPI prevalence and risk factors among school-going children. Fecal samples from 195 children and 41 environmental samples (soil, vegetables, water) were analyzed using direct wet mount, formal-ethyl acetate sedimentation, flotation, and modified acid-fast staining techniques, with sociodemographic and risk factor data collected via questionnaires. The overall IPI prevalence was 13.85%, slightly higher in urban (14.40%) than rural (12.86%) areas (p = 0.765). Protozoa, particularly Entamoeba spp. (62.86%; 66.67% rural, 60.87% urban), predominated, with its presence in environmental samples (water, soil, vegetables) indicating transmission through contaminated sources. Helminths (e.g., Ascaris spp.) were also detected. Nail-biting (p = 0.0417) and consumption of raw vegetables (p = 0.0225) showed significant associations with IPIs in rural settings, while abdominal pain symptoms (p = 0.0058) were significantly linked to IPIs across all participants. Logistic regression identified abdominal pain (AOR = 6.658, 95% CI 1.405-31.562, p = 0.017) as the only significant predictors of IPI, with all other assessed behavioral and environmental factors showing no statistically significant associations. Enhanced water sanitation, and hygiene education are essential to disrupt environmental transmission cycle of Entamoeba spp. and reduce IPI burden in Nepal.

Microbial dormancy enables microorganisms to persist under unfavourable conditions and reactivate when ecological or host environments become permissive. While dormancy supports microbial resilience, it also creates cross-domain "hidden reservoirs" that can destabilize ecosystems, amplify zoonotic risk, and sustain antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This narrative review synthesizes evidence across environmental, animal, and human systems to explain how reactivation triggers propagate through One Health pathways-for example, nutrient enrichment or warming in aquatic/soil environments → microbial revival and amplification → exposure in livestock/wildlife → human infection via food, water, aerosols, or vectors. Dormant pathogens can persist in soil, water, sediments, biofilms, and host-associated niches, frequently evading culture-based detection and re-emerging under stressors such as temperature shifts, hydrological change, malnutrition, immunosuppression, and antimicrobial exposure. Dormancy also facilitates AMR persistence through survival of tolerant subpopulations, biofilm protection, and environmental dissemination of resistance determinants. Because key cues governing dormancy-reactivation remain incompletely characterized and surveillance systems rarely target dormant states, outbreak forecasting and mitigation are often delayed. The review therefore proposes dormancy-aware One Health surveillance and response, including field-deployable molecular detection, shared data platforms, and targeted interventions at environmental and veterinary interfaces.

We are living amidst the sixth mass extinction event caused by human-mediated habitat alterations and climate change. One unintended fallout of anthropogenic pressure and climate change is the increased frequency of emerging infectious diseases. Across the globe, massive efforts are ongoing to understand the factors contributing to infectious disease outbreaks. However, South Asia, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change, lacks sufficient data in this regard, especially the highly biodiverse region of Northeast India. This region is particularly susceptible to emerging infectious diseases and has been identified as a hotspot for both biodiversity and zoonotic diseases. In this review, we emphasize Northeast India's rich biological diversity, high anthropogenic pressures, and environmental changes, which make it an important location for surveillance and monitoring of factors that promote spillover of zoonotic infectious diseases. We provide a roadmap rooted in EcoHealth and One Health principles for studies investigating the emergence of zoonotic diseases in this resource-limited but highly biodiverse environment, which can contribute significantly toward preventing and mitigating future outbreaks.

The decline in air quality from wildfires is known to have detrimental health impacts locally, but less is known about the effects far from the source. To address this gap, we analyzed visits to the University of Virginia Emergency Department from 2017 to 2023 by examining the impact of elevated PM_2.5 levels on respiratory visits. For this analysis, high exposure days were defined as those with PM_2.5 levels 2 or more standard deviations above the 2017-2023 average, specifically during the summer of 2023 when the Québec wildfires plume was advected over central Virginia. The results showed higher odds ratios on high PM_2.5 days compared to dates with normal exposure (1.190 [1.026,1.380]). This result was observed in males (1.388, [1.122,1.716]) and in white individuals (1.220 [1.009, 1.475]). Additionally, a comparison of mean ED visit departures (detrended and deseasoned) revealed that same day respiratory visits were significantly elevated on high exposure days (mean departure difference =  + 1.886, p = 0.027). These findings indicate that wildfires can have measurable health impacts in areas far from their origin.

With the impacts of climate change on health becoming increasingly severe and far-reaching, effective communication to diverse audiences is more crucial than ever. This review analyzes 93 studies published between 2000 and 2023 on public understanding and responses to information about climate change and health. We synthesize research on public perceptions of climate change and health, responses to health-framed climate information, and information about climate and health risks and solutions, and the depolarizing potential of health messaging. Our findings suggest that conveying the health relevance of climate change holds significant potential for enhancing public engagement and building support for climate action. Additionally, we identify research gaps, particularly in understanding how different demographic audiences perceive health-related climate information and suggest directions for future studies. This synthesis of international research provides valuable insights into how different populations perceive and react to health-related climate information, highlighting the importance of targeted and effective communication strategies in addressing the climate crisis. The findings and summaries in this review can serve as valuable tools for evidence-based initiatives to address the critical issue of climate change and its profound implications for public health.

Naegleria fowleri is a free-living amoeba, which causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in warm freshwater habitats. In Pakistan few reports are available on incidence of N. fowleri in humans. Recently, in 2023 an outbreak was reported in Islamabad, Pakistan, reflecting its emergence. The current study was designed to access the knowledge, attitudes, practices, risk factors, perceptions, believes, management, interventions, and one-health regarding N. fowleri. A cross-sectional study was carried out by using standardized questionnaires to collect quantitative information on knowledge, attitudes, and preventive measures along with other parameters about N. fowleri from rural and urban settings. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in the study to clarify the connections between attitudes, knowledge, and demographic variables. Statistical methods were employed to determine mean, standard deviation, t-statistics, and p-values for each path in a structural equation model. The results depict the weak knowledge of people regarding the disease and following poor practices. It also highlights the significance of education in shaping people's behavior and understanding of health through knowledge and attitude. When it comes to choosing actions relating to one's health, knowledge appeared to be essential. Age and attitudes have a notable negative connection, suggesting that opinions about health vary throughout generations. Family size has a significant effect on how knowledge grows, which emphasizes the significance of families in this area. The relationship between occupation and attitude is favorable, indicating that a person's career greatly influences their ability to acquire knowledge and shapes their opinions on health. While residence does not seem to affect knowledge, it does have a positive correlation with attitude, suggesting the effect of one's living environment. The current research emphasizes complex interactions that shape people's attitudes and knowledge about health in connection to education, demography, and occupational considerations.

Wet markets have been implicated in the outbreak of recent pandemics like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), H5N1 avian influenza, and most recently, COVID-19. In view of the wet markets as a potential source of spillover, our study aimed to assess hygiene, sanitation, and biosecurity practices in wet markets across Punjab, a state in India. A total of 60 wet market stalls from three different regions of Punjab were subjected to analysis through participatory and observational survey using 45 questions covering 12 parameters. A quantitative assessment scoring system was developed as per the guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO) which was used to evaluate the wet market stalls. Among the 60 wet market stalls that were assessed, 13 (21.67%) of them were categorized as having poor hygiene, sanitation and biosecurity practices. 39 (65%) stalls were classified as having moderate practices, and 8 (13.33%) stalls were observed to follow good hygiene and biosecurity measures. None of the stalls were found to have excellent practices, emphasizing the need for continuous efforts to elevate hygiene and biosecurity standards in these wet markets. Educational campaigns and agency coordination, such as with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and municipal bodies, are essential for licensing wet market stalls. Emphasizing cleanliness, protective gear provision, and zoning can improve hygiene and reduce disease risks, protecting public health.

Here we report the first evidence of microplastic ingestion by arboreal primates. We found green-colored microplastic fiber filaments (< 5 mm) in the stomachs of two red howler monkey (Alouatta juara) individuals from central Amazonian várzea forests during seasonal floods. We infer that the plastic particles may have been derived from the decomposition of ghost nets (abandoned fishing nets) deposited on trees during annual flooding of the várzea forests. Our findings highlight the need for further research to assess the extent of plastic ingestion by forest-dwelling species and the possible consequences for the health of wild animals, humans, and ecosystems.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a fungal pathogen responsible for dramatic declines of amphibian populations around the world. Experimental exposure studies have documented differences in host susceptibility to Bd, but variation in study designs may limit our ability to compare inferences across studies. Using laboratory-maintained pathogen cultures that may lose virulence over time (i.e., pathogen attenuation) or exposing hosts to foreign or local strains are choices that could affect hosts differently. To test how these study design choices affect resulting inference, we exposed a vulnerable anuran species, the boreal toad (Anaxyrus boreas boreas), to three strains of Bd that varied in passage history and geographic origin and measured differences on host survival. We also examined strain-specific information reported in 58 publications of Bd exposure experiments to investigate the potential for reproducibility across studies. We found that boreal toads exposed to strains with many passes had higher weekly survival probabilities than those exposed to the strain with few passes, indicating likely pathogen attenuation in strains with higher passage history. We also found evidence for local adaptation of Bd to its host. Eighty-eight percent of publications summarized did not report the number of Bd passages. Our findings suggest that strains with fewer passes in culture are better suited for exposure studies seeking to understand differences in host susceptibility and that the amount of passes can dramatically affect inference gained across studies.