Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions of Pet Amphibian Owners About Biosecurity Practices
AbstractGlobal trade has been linked with the emergence of novel pathogens and declines in amphibian populations worldwide. The potential for pathogen transmission within and between collections of captive amphibians and spillover to wild populations makes it important to understand the motivations, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of pet amphibian owners. We surveyed US pet amphibian owners to understand their characteristics and evaluated whether and how they were associated with behavioral intentions to adopt biosecurity practices. We found that the majority of pet amphibian owners are aware of the threat of emerging ...
Source: EcoHealth - July 24, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Operationalizing One Health: Environmental Solutions for Pandemic Prevention
AbstractHuman pressure on the environment is increasing the frequency, diversity, and spatial extent of disease outbreaks. Despite international recognition, the interconnection between the health of the environment, animals, and humans has been historically overlooked. Past and current initiatives have often neglected prevention under the One Health preparedness cycle, largely focusing on post-spillover stages. We argue that pandemic prevention initiatives have yet to produce actionable targets and indicators, connected to overarching goals, like it has been done for biodiversity loss and climate change. We show how the D...
Source: EcoHealth - July 21, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Quail Rearing Practices and Potential for Avian Influenza Virus Transmission, Bangladesh
AbstractIn 2015, human influenza surveillance identified a human infection with A/H9N2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh with evidence of exposure to a sick quail. We conducted in-depth interviews with household quail caregivers, pet bird retail shop owners, and mobile vendors, key informant interviews with pet bird wholesale shop owners, one group discussion with pet bird retail shop workers and unstructured observations in households, pet bird wholesale and retail markets, and mobile bird vendor ’s travelling areas to explore quail rearing and selling practices among households, mobile vendors, and retail pet bird and wholesale bir...
Source: EcoHealth - July 16, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
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(Source: EcoHealth)
Source: EcoHealth - June 30, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Foodborne Pathogens at the Livestock –Wildlife–Human Interface in Rural Western Uganda
AbstractFoodborne pathogens are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. To assess the presence ofSalmonella,Campylobacter andArcobacter spp. in livestock, wildlife, and humans from different regions across western Uganda, 479 faecal samples were tested by PCR.Salmonella andCampylobacter spp. were more frequently detected in livestock (5.1% and 23.5%, respectively) compared to wildlife (1.9% and 16.8%, respectively). Wildlife from remote areas showed lowerSalmonella andCampylobacter spp. occurrence than in areas where interactions with livestock are common, suggesting that spill-over may exist from livestoc...
Source: EcoHealth - June 1, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Assessing Behavioral Risk Factors Driving Zoonotic Spillover Among High-risk Populations in Myanmar
This study employed a behavioral surveillance strategy among high-risk populations to understand the behavioral risks for zoonotic disease transmission in an effort to identify risk factors for pathogen spillover. To explore behavioral mechanisms of spillover in Myanmar, we aimed to: (1) evaluate the details around animal contact and types of interaction, (2) assess the association between self-reported unusual symptoms (i.e., any illness or sickness that is not known or recognized in the community or diagnosed by medical providers) and animal contact activities and (3) identify the potential risk factors including behavio...
Source: EcoHealth - May 31, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Zoos as Sentinels? A Meta-Analysis of Seroprevalence of Terrestrial Mammalian Viruses in Zoos
AbstractThe One Health framework links animal, human, and environmental health, and focuses on emerging zoonotic pathogens. Understanding the interface between wildlife and human activity is critical due to the unpredictable nature of spillover of zoonotic pathogens from animals to humans. Zoos are important partners in One Health because of their contributions to education, conservation, and animal health monitoring. In addition, the housing of wildlife in captive and semi-natural settings makes zoos, especially relevant for detecting animal-related pathogens. A first step to determine the utility of zoos in contributing ...
Source: EcoHealth - May 29, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Newspaper Coverage and Framing of Bats, and Their Impact on Readership Engagement
We examined the extent to which bats were presented as a threat to human health and the assumed general attitudes towards bats that such articles supported. We quantified press coverage on bat conservation values and evaluated whether the country and political stance had any information bias. Finally, we assessed their terminology and, for the first time, modelled the active response from the readership based on the number of online comments. Out of 1095 articles sampled, 17% focus ed on bats and diseases, 53% on a range of ecological and conservation topics, and 30% only mention bats anecdotally. While most of the ecologi...
Source: EcoHealth - May 29, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Neopterin Levels in Bonobos Vary Seasonally and Reflect Symptomatic Respiratory Infections
AbstractAs environmental changes exacerbate the threat coming from infectious diseases in wild mammal species, monitoring their health and gaining a better understanding of the immune functioning at the species level have become critically important. Neopterin is a biomarker of cell-mediated immune responses to intracellular infections. We investigated the variation of urinary neopterin (uNeo) levels of wild, habituated bonobos (Pan paniscus) in relation to individual and environmental factors. We used 309 urine samples collected between 2010 and 2018 at the LuiKotale field site, DRC. Based on current knowledge on zoo-hous...
Source: EcoHealth - May 15, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
