Showing papers on "Plague (disease) published in 2017"

Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World

Abstract: This article provides an overview of recent literature on plagues and other lethal epidemics, covering the period from late Antiquity to ca. 1800. We analyze the main environmental and institutional factors that shaped both the way in which a plague originated and spread and its overall demographic and socioeconomic consequences. We clarify how the same pathogen shows historically different epidemiological characteristics, and how apparently similar epidemics could have deeply different consequences. We discuss current debates about the socioeconomic consequences of the Black Death and other plagues. We conclude with historical lessons to understand modern “plagues.”

Plague of bureaucracies : producing and territorializing difference in East Africa, 1888-1940

Abstract: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ; Research Council of Norway ; Nordic Africa Institute ; World Agroforestry Centre

Plague: Recognition, Treatment, and Prevention.

Abstract: Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis and is not commonly encountered in clinics, although natural plague foci are widely distributed around the world. Y. pestis has been listed as a category A bioterrorism agent. A neglected diagnosis will cause severe consequences. Therefore, this minireview briefly introduces the current understanding on Y. pestis and then focuses on practical aspects of plague, including clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, to alert clinicians about this notorious disease.

Trade routes and plague transmission in pre-industrial Europe.

Abstract: Numerous historical works have mentioned that trade routes were to blame for the spread of plague in European history, yet this relationship has never been tested by quantitative evidence. Here, we resolve the hypothetical role of trade routes through statistical analysis on the geo-referenced major trade routes in the early modern period and the 6,656 geo-referenced plague outbreak records in AD1347-1760. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation results show that major trade routes played a dominant role in spreading plague in pre-industrial Europe. Furthermore, the negative correlation between plague outbreaks and their distance from major trade ports indicates the absence of a permanent plague focus in the inland areas of Europe. Major trade routes decided the major plague outbreak hotspots, while navigable rivers determined the geographic pattern of sporadic plague cases. A case study in Germany indicates that plague penetrated further into Europe through the local trade route network. Based on our findings, we propose the mechanism of plague transmission in historical Europe, which is imperative in demonstrating how pandemics were spread in recent human history.

The sex-selective impact of the Black Death and recurring plagues in the Southern Netherlands, 1349–1450

Abstract: Although recent work has begun to establish that early modern plagues had selective mortality effects, it was generally accepted that the initial outbreak of Black Death in 1347‐52 was a “universal killer.” Recent bioarchaeological work, however, has argued that the Black Death was also selective with regard to age and pre‐plague health status. The issue of the Black Death's potential sex selectivity is less clear. Bioarchaeological research hypothesizes that sex‐selection in mortality was possible during the initial Black Death outbreak, and we present evidence from historical sources to test this notion.

A Historical View of Motion Sickness-A Plague at Sea and on Land, Also with Military Impact.

Abstract: Seasickness, its triggers, symptoms, and preventive measures were well-known in antiquity. This chapter is based on an analysis of descriptions of motion sickness, in particular seasickness, in ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese literature. A systematic search was made from the Greek period beginning with Homer in 800 BC to the late Roman period and ending with Aetios Amidenos in 600 AD as well as in the Chinese medical classics dating from around 300 AD. Major aspects are the following: body movements caused by waves were identified in all cultures as the critical stimuli. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew that other illnesses and the mental state could precipitate seasickness and that experienced sailors were highly resistant to it (habituation). The Chinese observed that children were particularly susceptible to motion sickness; they first described the type of motion sickness induced by travelling in carts (cart-sickness) or being transported on a litter or in a sedan chair (litter-sickness). The western classics recommended therapeutic measures like fasting or specific diets, pleasant fragrancies, medicinal plants like white hellebore (containing various alkaloids), or a mixture of wine and wormwood. The East knew more unusual measures, such as drinking the urine of young boys, swallowing white sand-sirup, collecting water drops from a bamboo stick, or hiding earth from the kitchen hearth under the hair. The Greek view of the pathophysiology of seasickness was based on the humoral theory of Empedokles and Aristoteles and differed from the Chinese medicine of correspondences, which attributed malfunctions to certain body substances and the life force Qi. Many sources emphasized the impact of seasickness on military actions and famous naval battles such as the Battle of the Red Cliff, which marked the end of the Han dynasty in China, or the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English in 1588. A peculiar form of motion sickness is associated with Napoleon’s camel corps during the Egyptian campaign of 1798/1799, a sickness induced by riding on a camel. Thus motion sickness in antiquity was known as a physiological response to unadapted body motions during passive transportation as well as a plague.

The Asian house shrew Suncus murinus as a reservoir and source of human outbreaks of plague in Madagascar.

Abstract: Identifying key reservoirs for zoonoses is crucial for understanding variation in incidence. Plague re-emerged in Mahajanga, Madagascar in the 1990s but there has been no confirmed case since 1999. Here we combine ecological and genetic data, from during and after the epidemics, with experimental infections to examine the role of the shrew Suncus murinus in the plague epidemiological cycle. The predominance of S. murinus captures during the epidemics, their carriage of the flea vector and their infection with Yersinia pestis suggest they played an important role in the maintenance and transmission of plague. S. murinus exhibit a high but variable resistance to experimental Y. pestis infections, providing evidence of its ability to act as a maintenance host. Genetic analyses of the strains isolated from various hosts were consistent with two partially-linked transmission cycles, with plague persisting within the S. murinus population, occasionally spilling over into the rat and human populations. The recent isolation from a rat in Mahajanga of a Y. pestis strain genetically close to shrew strains obtained during the epidemics reinforces this hypothesis and suggests circulation of plague continues. The observed decline in S. murinus and Xenopsylla cheopis since the epidemics appears to have decreased the frequency of spillover events to the more susceptible rats, which act as a source of infection for humans. Although this may explain the lack of confirmed human cases in recent years, the current circulation of plague within the city highlights the continuing health threat.

Paltry past‐precipitation: Predisposing prairie dogs to plague?

Abstract: The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis was introduced to California in 1900 and spread rapidly as a sylvatic disease of mammalian hosts and flea vectors, invading the Great Plains in the United States by the 1930s to 1940s. In grassland ecosystems, plague causes periodic, devastating epizootics in colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), sciurid rodents that create and maintain subterranean burrows. In doing so, plague inhibits prairie dogs from functioning as keystone species of grassland communities. The rate at which fleas transmit Y. pestis is thought to increase when fleas are abundant. Flea densities can increase during droughts when vegetative production is reduced and herbivorous prairie dogs are malnourished and have weakened defenses against fleas. Epizootics of plague have erupted frequently in prairie dogs during years in which precipitation was plentiful, and the accompanying cool temperatures might have facilitated the rate at which fleas transmitted Y. pestis. Together these observations evoke the hypothesis that transitions from dry-to-wet years provide conditions for plague epizootics in prairie dogs. Using generalized linear models, we analyzed a 24-year dataset on the occurrence of plague epizootics in 42 colonies of prairie dogs from Colorado, USA, 1982–2005. Of the 33 epizootics observed, 52% erupted during years with increased precipitation in summer. For the years with increased summer precipitation, if precipitation in the prior growing season declined from the maximum of 502 mm to the minimum of 200 mm, the prevalence of plague epizootics was predicted to increase 3-fold. Thus, reduced precipitation may have predisposed prairie dogs to plague epizootics when moisture returned. Biologists sometimes assume dry conditions are detrimental for plague. However, 48% of epizootics occurred during years in which precipitation was scarce in summer. In some cases, an increased abundance of fleas during dry years might compensate for other conditions that become less favorable for plague transmission. Global warming is forecasted to amplify the hydrological cycle in the Great Plains, causing an increased occurrence of prolonged droughts interceded by brief periods of intense precipitation. Results herein suggest these changes might affect plague cycles in prairie dogs. Both negative and positive consequences of dry conditions should be considered when managing plague. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

A Field Study of Plague and Tularemia in Rodents, Western Iran

Abstract: Introduction: Kurdistan Province in Iran is a historical focus for plague and tularemia. This study aimed at assessing the current status of these two foci by studying their rodent reservoirs. Materials and Methods: Rodents were trapped and their ectoparasites were collected. The genus and species of both rodents and ectoparasites were determined. Serological analyses of rodent blood samples were done by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for plague and by standard tube agglutination assay for tularemia. Rodent spleen samples were subjected to bacterial culture, microscopic examination, and real-time PCR to search for active plague or tularemia infection. Results: During this study, 245 rodents were trapped, of which the most abundant genera were Apodemus (40%), Mus (24.49%), and Meriones (12.65%). One hundred fifty-three fleas, 37 mites, and 54 ticks were collected on these rodents. The results of all direct and indirect tests were negative for plague. Serological tests were positive for tularemi...

Small-Scale Die-Offs in Woodrats Support Long-Term Maintenance of Plague in the U.S. Southwest

Abstract: Our longitudinal study of plague dynamics was conducted in north-central New Mexico to identify which species in the community were infected with plague, to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of the dynamics of plague epizootics, and to describe the dynamics of Yersinia pestis infection within individual hosts. A total of 3156 fleas collected from 535 small mammals of 8 species were tested for Y. pestis DNA. Nine fleas collected from six southern plains woodrats (Neotoma micropus) and from one rock squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus) were positive for the pla gene of Y. pestis. None of 127 fleas collected from 17 woodrat nests was positive. Hemagglutinating antibodies to the Y. pestis-specific F1 antigen were detected in 11 rodents of 6 species. All parts of the investigated area were subjected to local disappearance of woodrats. Despite the active die-offs, some woodrats always were present within the relatively limited endemic territory and apparently were never exposed to plague. Ou...

A Socially Just Leadership Approach to Community-Partnered Research for Reducing Health Disparities:

Abstract: Significant health disparities continue to plague many groups of people who have been systematically oppressed and largely unrepresented in health research. Community-based participatory research (...

The origin and early spread of the Black Death in Italy: first evidence of plague victims from 14th-century Liguria (northern Italy)

Abstract: Spread by infected galleys coming from Kaffa (Crimea), the Black Death reached Genoa, as it now seems, in the late summer of 1347 AD. Genoa functioned as an epicentre from which the contagion was spread into the mainland through a complex system of routes, which linked Liguria to northern and central Italy. Along these routes various institutions were found, namely ‘ospitali’ (hospitals) and ‘stationes’ (stations), where traders and pilgrims stopped to rest and recuperate. In 2006 a multiple burial archaeologically dated to the second half/end of the 14th century was discovered in the cemetery pertaining to the ‘ospitale’ of San Nicolao (Genoa). The excavation showed that it contained the remains of four individuals: a 38–40 week pregnant woman with her fetus and two sub-adults. Stratigraphy showed that these individuals were buried simultaneously. Given that the dating of the burial fits the arrival of the Second Pandemic in Europe, it was hypothesized that they might have died during the Black Death epidemic. The identification of Yersinia pestis F1 antigen in three of four individuals corroborated this hypothesis. Here we report the first evidence of Y. pestis infection in 14th-century Liguria and discuss the possible mechanisms of plague dissemination from Genoa into the surrounding regions. In fact, the ‘ospitale’ of San Nicolao, located at 792 m a.s.l. into the Bracco Massif, was used as a resting place/hostel by traders and travellers (e.g. pilgrims heading for Rome). This ‘ospitale’ represented a key point leading into a system of pathways forming the initial part of the Vie Romee better known under the name of Via Francigena in the Italian territory and, as a consequence, was the ideal site from which plague could be disseminated.

Control of rodent pests in rice cultivation

Abstract: For thousands of years they have been causing damage to crops, stored grain and infrastructure, and are reservoirs for devastating human diseases such as plague and typhus. The bones of rats and mice are found along with human bones from the mid-Pleistocene (1–2.5 million years ago). Rats and mice subsequently radiated throughout the world. Rodents continue to cause serious damage to staple food crops such as rice (John 2014), despite advances in methods of control and management techniques.

Yersinia pestis halotolerance illuminates plague reservoirs.

Abstract: The plague agent Yersinia pestis persists for years in the soil. Two millennia after swiping over Europe and North Africa, plague established permanent foci in North Africa but not in neighboring Europe. Mapping human plague foci reported in North Africa for 70 years indicated a significant location at <3 kilometers from the Mediterranean seashore or the edge of salted lakes named chotts. In Algeria, culturing 352 environmental specimens naturally containing 0.5 to 70 g/L NaCl yielded one Y. pestis Orientalis biotype isolate in a 40 g/L NaCl chott soil specimen. Core genome SNP analysis placed this isolate within the Y. pestis branch 1, Orientalis biovar. Culturing Y. pestis in broth steadily enriched in NaCl indicated survival up to 150 g/L NaCl as L-form variants exhibiting a distinctive matrix assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry peptide profile. Further transcriptomic analyses found the upregulation of several outer-membrane proteins including TolC efflux pump and OmpF porin implied in osmotic pressure regulation. Salt tolerance of Y. pestis L-form may play a role in the maintenance of natural plague foci in North Africa and beyond, as these geographical correlations could be extended to 31 plague foci in the northern hemisphere (from 15°N to 50°N).

The stereotypes and biases that plague millennial leaders: best practices and strategies for job promotion

Abstract: .................................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................1 Organizational Leadership .................................................................................................. 3 Millennials Leading 21-Century Enterprises .................................................................... 6 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 8 Purpose Statement ............................................................................................................... 9 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 10 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................. 11 Limitations and Assumptions ........................................................................................... 12 Definition of Terms........................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1 Summary .......................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................................16 Current Landscape of the U.S. Workforce........................................................................ 17 Current Landscape of Top Global Companies .................................................................. 21 Modern-Day Millennial Leader Examples ....................................................................... 37 Current Landscape of Millennial Leadership ................................................................... 42 Best Practices for Retention .............................................................................................. 60 Organizational Change...................................................................................................... 70 A New Landscape to Redefine Purpose............................................................................ 74 Chapter 2 Summary .......................................................................................................... 85 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology .............................................................................87 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 87 Restatement of Research Questions .................................................................................. 87 Nature of the Study ........................................................................................................... 87 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 91 Research Design................................................................................................................ 94

Health, Sickness, Medicine and the Friars in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Abstract: Contents: Introduction Fit to preach and pray: health, sickness and the friars' vocation Pro salute: the convent and infirmary environment In operibus pietatis: the infirmarers, their duties and equipment Omnia computare: the patients, standards of care and finance Dangers and disorders: the decline of the frater medicus Let us honour the physicians: secular medical practitioners Quod curabit?: the plague outbreaks Strengthening nature: food for the healthy and the sick The hand of Christ: drugs for the sick friar Cures of other ills: surgical and ancillary treatments Conclusion Appendices Bibliography Index.

Mechanism study on a plague outbreak driven by the construction of a large reservoir in southwest china (surveillance from 2000-2015).

Abstract: Background Plague, a Yersinia pestis infection, is a fatal disease with tremendous transmission capacity. However, the mechanism of how the pathogen stays in a reservoir, circulates and then re-emerges is an enigma. Methodology/Principal findings We studied a plague outbreak caused by the construction of a large reservoir in southwest China followed 16-years’ surveillance. Conclusions/Significance The results show the prevalence of plague within the natural plague focus is closely related to the stability of local ecology. Before and during the decade of construction the reservoir on the Nanpan River, no confirmed plague has ever emerged. With the impoundment of reservoir and destruction of drowned farmland and vegetation, the infected rodent population previously dispersed was concentrated together in a flood-free area and turned a rest focus alive. Human plague broke out after the enzootic plague via the flea bite. With the construction completed and ecology gradually of human residential environment, animal population and type of vegetation settling down to a new balance, the natural plague foci returned to a rest period. With the rodent density decreased as some of them died, the flea density increased as the rodents lived near or in local farm houses where had more domestic animals, and human has a more concentrated population. In contrast, in the Himalayan marmot foci of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the Qilian Mountains. There are few human inhabitants and the local ecology is relatively stable; plague is prevalence, showing no rest period. Thus the plague can be significantly affected by ecological shifts.

Demographic Shocks and the Factor Proportions Model: From the Plague of Justinian to the Black Death

Abstract: This chapter develops a factor proportions-based model of the Plague of Justinian in the sixth century which rests on a Malthusian specification of birth and death rates in combination with an endogenous land frontier, whose extension is subject to increasing marginal costs. When the population shrinks, wages increase and land rents decline. The amount of new land cleared is reduced and so is the area under cultivation. Per capita output and consumption rise and trigger new population growth. Eventually the price of land rises and the real wage declines. New land is added and the economy returns to the steady state. It is also demonstrated that technological change will increase both the population and the area under cultivation. The model is used to shed some light on the difference in performance between three geographical regions affected by the plague: the Byzantine Empire, where the plague struck directly and the economy had barely recovered centuries later; the Islamic world, which fared far better and even experienced a ‘green revolution’ based on crops introduced from the east; and Western Europe, which eventually expanded most rapidly of all on the basis of land clearance and agricultural innovations.

Precursors of Construction Fatalities. II: Predictive Modeling and Empirical Validation

Abstract: Fatalities continue to plague the construction industry. To address this ongoing concern, researchers have begun to develop and test proactive methods to improve construction safety, such a...

Western plague literature, the Irish Famine and Anthony Trollope’s Castle Richmond

Abstract: This article places Castle Richmond, Anthony Trollope’s controversial Irish Famine novel, within the context of Western plague narratives as outlined by recent plague narrative scholars and...

Plague risk in vulnerable community: assessment of Xenopsylla cheopis susceptibility to insecticides in Malagasy prisons

Abstract: Prisons in Madagascar are at high risk of plague outbreak. Occurrence of plague epidemic in prisons can cause significant episode of urban plague through the movement of potentially infected humans, rodents and fleas. Rodent and flea controls are essential in plague prevention, by reducing human contact with plague reservoirs and vectors. Insecticide treatment is the key step available for the control of rat fleas which transmit the disease from infected rodents to human. The implementation of an adapted flea control strategy should rely on the insecticide susceptibility status of the targeted population. For the purpose of plague prevention campaign in prisons, we conducted insecticide resistance survey on Xenopsylla cheopis, the rat flea. Fleas were collected on rats caught in six prisons of Madagascar. They were exposed to insecticide treated filter papers and mortality was recorded following World Health Organization protocol. The fleas collected in the prisons had different resistance patterns, while a high level of resistance to insecticides tested was described in the Antanimora prison, located in the heart of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. This finding is alarming in the context of public health, knowing that the effectiveness of flea control could be jeopardized by insecticide resistance. In order to establish more accurate rat fleas control in prisons, the main recommendations are based on continuous monitoring insecticide susceptibility of flea, insecticide rotation, and the development of a new method for flea control.

Vaccines for Conservation: Plague, Prairie Dogs & Black-Footed Ferrets as a Case Study

Abstract: The endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is affected by plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, both directly, as a cause of mortality, and indirectly, because of the impacts of plague on its prairie dog (Cynomys spp.) prey base. Recent developments in vaccines and vaccine delivery have raised the possibility of plague control in prairie dog populations, thereby protecting ferret populations. A large-scale experimental investigation across the western US shows that sylvatic plague vaccine delivered in oral baits can increase prairie dog survival. In northern Colorado, an examination of the efficacy of insecticides to control fleas and plague vaccine shows that timing and method of plague control is important, with different implications for long-term and large-scale management of Y. pestis delivery. In both cases, the studies show that ambitious field-work and cross-sectoral collaboration can provide potential solutions to difficult issues of wildlife management, conservation and disease ecology.

A 'Suitable Soil': Plague's Urban Breeding Grounds at the Dawn of the Third Pandemic.

Abstract: A pressing question during the first half-decade of the third plague pandemic (1894–9) was what was a ‘suitable soil’ for the disease. The question related to plague’s perceived ability to disappear from a given city only to reappear at some future point; a phenomenon that became central to scientific investigations of the disease. However, rather than this simply having a metaphorical meaning, the debate around plague’s ‘suitable soil’ actually concerned the material reality of the soil itself. The prevalence of plague in the working-class neighbourhood of Taipingshan during the first major outbreak of the pandemic, in 1894 in Hong Kong, led to an extensive debate regarding the ability of the soil to harbour and even spread the disease. Involving experiments, which were seen as able to procure evidence for or against the demolition or even torching of the area, scientific and administrative concerns over the soil rendered it an unstable yet highly productive epistemic thing. The spread of plague to India further fuelled concerns over the ability of the soil to act as the medium of the disease’s so-called true recrudescence. Besides high-profile scientific debates, hands-on experiments on purifying the soil of infected houses by means of highly intrusive methods allowed scientists and administrators to act upon and further solidify plague’s supposed invisibility in the urban terrain. Rather than being a short-lived, moribund object of epidemiological concern, this paper will demonstrate that the soil played a crucial role in the development of plague as a scientifically knowable and actionable category for modern medicine.

The Effect of Seasonal Weather Variation on the Dynamics of the Plague Disease

Abstract: Plague is a historic disease which is also known to be the most devastating disease that ever occurred in human history, caused by gram-negative bacteria known as Yersinia pestis. The disease is mostly affected by variations of weather conditions as it disturbs the normal behavior of main plague disease transmission agents, namely, human beings, rodents, fleas, and pathogens, in the environment. This in turn changes the way they interact with each other and ultimately leads to a periodic transmission of plague disease. In this paper, we formulate a periodic epidemic model system by incorporating seasonal transmission rate in order to study the effect of seasonal weather variation on the dynamics of plague disease. We compute the basic reproduction number of a proposed model. We then use numerical simulation to illustrate the effect of different weather dependent parameters on the basic reproduction number. We are able to deduce that infection rate, progression rates from primary forms of plague disease to more severe forms of plague disease, and the infectious flea abundance affect, to a large extent, the number of bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague infective agents. We recommend that it is more reasonable to consider these factors that have been shown to have a significant effect on for effective control strategies.

Política pública y sustentabilidad de los territorios cafetaleros en tiempos de roya: Chiapas y Veracruz

Abstract: During the last years, a virulent roya plague (Hemileia vastatrix) affected coffee plantations in South America, Central America and Mexico. In this latest country coffee production has decreased dramatically. This problem has been attributed to climate change. However, without dismissing this issue, this article argues that the plague’s severe impact on coffee crops is rather due to the State’s abdication to coffee cultivation during the last 25 years, particularly after the application of openmarket policies and once the Mexican Institute of Coffee closed its doors. Moreover, this paper argues that the policies to combat this plague were improvised, subjected to various changes and not implemented on time. They did not pan out because there was no clear policy on sustainability.

The transmission of the Black Death to western Europe: a critical review of the existing evidence

Abstract: In 1347 the Black Death was introduced from the north-eastern coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Asov towards southern and western Europe, where it then spread dramatically. A report by the Ital...

Rodents and other small mammal reservoirs in plague foci in northeastern Brazil

Abstract: Introduction: Plague is an acute, infectious zoonotic disease, primarily of wild rodents and their fleas, that affects humans and other mammals In Brazil, several plague foci are located in the northeast region Plague surveillance based on monitoring of rodents was discontinued in 2007, and the current information on rodent populations is unsatisfactory Our purpose was to update the information on rodents and other small mammals in plague foci in northeastern Brazil Methodology: Nine surveys in the historically most important northeastern plague areas were conducted in 2013-2015 Results: In this study, 393 animals (13 rodent and four marsupial species) were entrapped The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis was not detected in tissue sample cultures from the 225 animals that were analyzed Eighty sera samples were analyzed for anti-F1 antibodies by hemagglutination (HA) and protein A ELISA tests, and all were negative, except for one marsupial, Monodelphis domestica, which was HA positive Conclusions: Qualitative and quantitative differences in the animal populations were observed in the areas surveyed, and the antibody positive marsupial indicated that plague continues to circulate in the wild