faulker092

Many are aware of the environmental consequences of deforestation: trees absorb carbon, and in a world of escalating carbon levels, this natural process is critical to the effort of slowing global warming. What is less well-known about deforestation, is the part it plays in public health for both humans and animals. In this article, Laura Kahn illustrates the role of deforestation in the spread of emerging infectious diseases among both humans and animals. She does this through the story of the Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia, an event that continues to affect Southeast Asia both directly and indirectly. Kahn outlines the sequence of events that followed a mass deforestation in Malaysia in 1997, the focus of many studies concerning Nipah virus. Being forced from their natural habitat , tropical fruit bats began to feed from fruits in orchards through which pigs roamed and fed. It is through this exposure that an outbreak of the virus spread throughout the newly industrialized p...

We welcomed Dr. David Weber, Dr. Jorge Ferreira, and Dr. Vance Fowler on Tuesday, February 22, 2011, to our One Health Collaborative Intellectual Exchange Group meeting to discuss MRSA. Dr. Weber is a Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and UNC’s School of Medicine and also a Professor of Epidemiology at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. He kicked off the session with great stories on how people become infected with infectious diseases and common sense ways to avoid infection. He was very adamant on the fact that lessons can lessons can be learned after every infection, no matter how large or small. It was interesting, that during his presentation, he noted that the country with the greatest number of newly emerging diseases were discovered in the United States, based on the sole fact that the United States has better technology than other countries for identifying these new and emerging zoonotic diseases. Dr. Ferreira is currently a Fulbright scholar in the Com...

Session 6 on 15-February 2011 was entitled “Tick-transmitted Infectious Diseases In North Carolina: Local, National and Global Implications”. The panel consisted of Dr. Ricardo Maggi, and Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt. Dr. Maggi is Research Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. He is also Chief Technical Officer and Assistant Director of Research and Development at Galaxy Diagnostics in RTP. Dr. Maggi’s topic of discussion was Borrelia in Ixodes ticks in North Carolina. Borrelia burgdoferi is the leading cause of Lyme disease. According to Dr. Maggi, while 30-50% of Ixodes scapularis carry B. burgdoferi in New England, only 5% of I. scapularis do in Virginia. This figure drops to 0.3% in North Carolina. In contrast, among Ixodes affini ticks in North Carolina, 64% are infected with B. burgdoferi . This infection is more prevalent in female ticks than male ticks. ...

Russia's Fish Fight For Oxygen In St. Petersburg Ponds (PHOTOS) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11/russias-fish-fight-for-ai_n_822101.html#s238893&title=Russia_Winter_Fish AP/The Huffington Post ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — As the long Russian winter drags on, fish in the ponds of St. Petersburg become increasingly desperate for oxygen, clustering in vast, thrashing masses at shrinking holes in the ice. Swimmers who brave the frigid temperatures for an invigorating dip find themselves stroking through swarms of fish that flock to the open water. The fish are so thick that humans can easily reach out and catch them with their hands. Not only does ice block oxygen that could be diffused into the water from the air, but it also impedes sunlight from reaching oxygen-generating plants and algae in the water. "The only way to help the fish in this situation is to make more holes in the ice," says Sergei Titov of St. Petersburg's Lakes and Rivers Fish Sector I...

Scientists probe big fish die-off http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/Scientists+probe+fish/4223336/story.html#ixzz1Dypa66Co Tests are being done in Michigan to see why thousands of dead gizzard shad are turning up along the Detroit River and in lakes Erie and St. Clair . "The only thing we're really sure of is temperatures are likely a factor ," Ministry of Natural Resources biologist Andy Cook said Thursday from Wheatley. Gizzard shad, at the northern end of their range here, are vulnerable to the cold and has been known to have large die-offs, Cook said. Because there seemed to be more dead fish than usual, tests are being done through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Department spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said the gizzard shad found in Lake St. Clair are being tested for a deadly fish virus called VHS because some of them showed symptoms of the disease. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia is a viral disease found in freshwater a...

Malady deadly to bats found in North Carolina (North Carolina, United States, North America) Published by USFWS Southeast Region - www.fws.gov/southeast/news on 2/9/2011 White-nose syndrome, the disease that has killed hundreds of thousands of bats in the Eastern United States, has been discovered in a retired Avery County mine and in a cave at Grandfather Mountain State Park, marking the arrival of the disease in North Carolina. “White-nose syndrome is confirmed in Virginia and Tennessee, so we expected we would be one of the next states to see the disease,” said Gabrielle Graeter, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. “This discovery marks the arrival of one of the most devastating threats to bat conservation in our time.” Although scientists have yet to fully understand white-nose syndrome, current knowledge indicates it’s likely caused by a newly discovered fungus, Geomyces destructans , which often grows into white tufts on the muzzles of infected ba...

On Tuesday, February 8 th 2011, we welcomed rabies virus experts Dr. Charles Rupprecht, Dr. Carl Williams, Dr. G. Robert Weedon, and Peter Costa to our One Health Collaborative Intellectual Exchange Group meeting to discuss the disease. Dr. Rupprecht was the first speaker of a four part presentation that promoted rabies awareness, management, and control from a series of domestic and global perspectives. He began with an informative background history of the virus as well as the United State’s role in laboratory-based surveillance of the disease. We also explored the necessary steps to eradicate rabies cost-effectively, and established that the solution lies in eliminating the virus at the vector source by vaccinating animals as opposed to humans. Dr. Williams provided a thorough explanation of how the North Carolina public health system takes the necessary precautions to regulate and control potential outbreaks. The NC Division of Public Health holds rabies in high priority for disea...