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Increased risk of infectious diseases in a time of war and conflict
© Rick / Stock.adobe.com War and conflict throughout history have resulted in the suffering and deaths of countless people who did not participate as combatants. Unchecked murder, pillaging and destruction have been inflicted both as a form of terror on the conquered and a bounty for the victors. Lack of concern for non-combatants (and those…
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The Potential Impact of Climate Change on Infectious Disease
Image by ELG21 from Pixabay No matter who you are or where you are from, it’s almost inevitable that climate change will have a major impact on your life. Whether it be rising sea levels or changes in food production, it threatens to upend our lives and ecosystems. It can even affect which diseases you…
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NTDs, poverty, and ecosystem destruction. Predicting disease risk and breaking the poverty trap
Operação de Fiscalização na Floresta Nacional do Jamanxim, no Pará Foto: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama Operação de Fiscalização na Floresta Nacional do Jamanxim, no Pará Foto: Vinícius Mendonça/Ibama Last Saturday, 22 April 2023, was Earth Day, an international annual event to recognize, celebrate and advocate for the protection of the environmental and ecosystems. Perhaps due to the…
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Terrestrial pathogens and microplastics: Hitchhiker’s guide to the ocean
Left: Fquasie, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons. Right: hockadilly, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Since 1964, the global production of plastics has increased 20-fold. Every year, approximately 13 million tons of plastic waste contaminate our oceans, with at least 5.25 trillion individual plastic particles estimated to be circulating in the oceans…
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Increasing tick-borne diseases: Better information and enhanced protection for outdoor workers
Ixodes ricinus questing. Soucre: Holger Krisp, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Overall, vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are on the rise globally, with outbreaks of several novel pathogens reported and previously controlled VBDs expanding into new geographic areas, mainly resulting from the spread of their arthropod vectors, animal movement, and human-driven changes to the environment. VBDs…
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Bovines, Bilharzia and Benin: does Schistosoma hybridization happen in cattle?
taken by Hilary Hurd Schistosome species in Africa: blurring the lines! Schistosomes affect over 200 million people worldwide. Their impact as a parasitic disease on human health is huge, second only to malaria. However, their impact on other animals, particularly livestock, are also potentially devastating. Cattle schistosomiasis is estimated to affect 165 million domestic cattle…
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The challenge of misinformation during disease outbreaks
It is likely no surprise that misinformation and disinformation permeate the communication space around public health events. The COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception, and in fact, has highlighted how misinformation and disinformation can damage public health response efforts. In particular, damage to trust, heightened confusion, and intensified discord can widen the gap between effective…
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Keeping in mind Rift Valley Fever: the burden of emerging pathogens
Changes in ecology, pathogen adaptation, and human behavior including travel and transcontinental commerce, are factors leading to the emergence of old, unrecognized, and new infectious diseases. Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease, meaning that it can be transmitted to humans from animals, but the RVF virus can also be transmitted by mosquito bites.In…
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Zero-ing in on eliminating catastrophic costs for tuberculosis: can active case finding help?
Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) The Long and winding road to diagnosis Ramesh lives in a small village in the rural area of Bardiya district in Nepal. He was a worker in a brick factory and was his family’s sole financial provider when he fell ill. He had a fever and chronic cough, which are…