Community health impacts of surface mining in the Upper West Region of Ghana: The roles of mining odors and dust

The emergence of the gold mining industry and the influx of artisanal and small-scale mining following recent discoveries of gold deposits in Northern Ghana have posed new socio-cultural, economic, environment and health challenges for residents in this dry savannah zone that is already facing negative consequences of environmental change. Yet, the extent to which residents in close proximity (impacted) and distant (affected) host communities perceive the impact of mining on their health has been nascent. Using cross sectional survey data (n=801) and applying the negative log-log regression technique, we examine residents’ self-rated health in mining communities in the Upper West Region of Ghana. The findings suggest that residents in impacted communities who believed that odors from mining activities could have health impact were twice more likely to report their health as poor, while those who were uncertain were 98% more likely to rate their health poor compared to those who disbelieved. However, sighting of dust was not significantly associated with subjective health in both impacted and affected communities. Based on these findings, it is recommended that Ghana's Minerals and Mining Act be reviewed to include the active involvement of host communities in mine leases while enforcing strict environmental best practices.     

Disease invasion: impacts on biodiversity and human health

An introduction to the theme issue that includes papers that identify how, where and why infectious diseases in wildlife emerge, while also addressing their possible conservation impacts.     

Mycobacterium africanum--review of an important cause of human tuberculosis in West Africa

Mycobacterium africanum consists of two phylogenetically distinct lineages within the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, known as M. africanum West African 1 and M. africanum West African 2. These lineages are restricted to West Africa, where they cause up to half of human pulmonary tuberculosis. In this review we discuss the definition of M. africanum, describe the prevalence and restricted geographical distribution of M. africanum West African 1 and 2, review the occurrence of M. africanum in animals, and summarize the phenotypic differences described thus far between M. africanum and M. tuberculosis sensu stricto.     

Generic spatial classes for human health impacts, part II:

Within a Life Cycle Assessment of the fuel supply and the operation of cars fueled by natural gas, diesel and gasoline, the impacts of airborne pollutants on human health were assessed in a spatially differentiated way. Country average impacts were used for secondary sulfate and nitrate aerosols. The use of country average impacts also turned out to be sufficient for the primary pollutants emitted from most processes of the fuel supply. For emissions of primary pollutants from the vehicles and from some processes of the fuel supply, the low to moderate emission height and the high local population density in urban areas needed to be taken into account. In these cases, the method of generic spatial classes presented in Part I was applied. The spatially differentiated impacts were compared with the results of a generic impact assessment based on average European damage factors. The generic impact assessment overestimates the human health impact of the fuel supply by about a factor of 2, since many of the upstream processes take place in very sparsely populated countries, and underestimates the impact of the primary particles emitted by the diesel cars in large cities by about a factor of 2.     

Generic spatial classes for human health impacts, Part I:

A new method for the spatially differentiated assessment of impacts of airborne pollutants on human health is presented. It is applicable to primary pollutants with linear exposure response functions. This includes the most important primary air pollutants from transportation and energy generation. The article looks at the spatial differentiation of impacts due to emission height and the local population density distribution around the emission site, as has been predicted using a Gaussian plume model. The differentiation due to population density is captured by way of five generic spatial classes: large cities in agglomerations, highly densified districts in agglomerations, cities in urbanized regions, country average districts, and low density rural districts in rural regions. Average impacts are calculated for each class. The method is simple enough to be applied to a large number of emissions within Life Cycle Assessments. It was used to calculate site-dependent exposure efficiencies for a variety of primary pollutants emitted at different heights. For traffic emissions of pollutants with short atmospheric residence times, the exposure efficiencies vary by a factor of 5 across Germany and by a factor of 75 across Europe. This differentiation due to population density decreases significantly with an increasing atmospheric residence time of the pollutants and with an increasing emission height.     

Desert pupfishes: reflections on reality,desirability, and conscience

Environmental Biology of Fishes -     

The need for research and monitoring on the impacts of translocated sharptooth catfish,Clarias gariepinus,in South Africa

The sharptooth catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822), is a widespread African freshwater fish species which occurs naturally from the Nile to the Orange River. Through translocation aquaculturists, farmers, anglers and engineers have helped to extend its range into many South African rivers where it did not occur naturally and where it is now an alien invasive species. Being a very hardy fish species it will have a major impact on a range of aquatic, amphibian and avian biota, impacts that should not be under-estimated and which urgently require study. Ironically, the illegal introduction of catfish into some dams has impacted on sport fisheries for another alien: bass. There is also a serious potential impact from alien catfish on freshwater eels. Anglers and farmers need to be educated about the adverse consequences of introducing catfish and a serious look needs to be taken at interbasin transfers of biota by engineers.     

Characterization of Aerosolized Bacteria and Fungi From Desert Dust Events in Mali, West Africa

Millions of metric tons of African desert dust blow across the Atlantic Ocean each year, blanketing the Caribbean and southeastern United States. Previous work in the Caribbean has shown that atmospheric samples collected during dust events contain living microbes, including plant and opportunistic human pathogens. To better understand the potential downwind public health and ecosystem effects of the dust microbes, it is important to characterize the source population. We describe 19 genera of bacteria and 3 genera of fungi isolated from air samples collected in Mali, a known source region for dust storms, and over which large dust storms travel.     

雾霾空气中细菌特征及对健康的潜在影响

论文从群落结构、浓度变化及粒径分布的角度论述了雾霾天气对空气细菌特征的影响,并结合了雾霾天气相关疾病的发病率,综合评价了雾霾天气空气病原菌导致的人群潜在健康风险的变化,最后提出了以前研究存在的不足及未来的发展趋势。综合研究结果,雾霾天气对空气细菌群落结构、浓度变化及粒径分布的影响,研究人员在不同城市得出的研究结果不同,可能由样点的时空环境、气象因素、雾霾程度及采集、检验、鉴定空气细菌方法等多种因素的差异引起。雾霾空气中已发现病原细菌均为条件致病菌,在空气中含量很低,但雾霾天气下部分病原菌的相对丰度增加,致病力会显著增强。此外,高浓度的细颗粒物和化学污染物可损伤皮肤黏膜屏障,打破呼吸道和皮肤的微生态平衡,为病原菌侵入创造较好的机会。两者的协同作用,显著增加了雾霾天气空气中病原菌的健康风险。     

A hotspot of Toxoplasma gondii Africa 1 lineage in Benin: How new genotypes from West Africa contribute to understand the parasite genetic diversity worldwide

Through international trades, Europe, Africa and South America share a long history of exchanges, potentially of pathogens. We used the worldwide parasite Toxoplasma gondii to test the hypothesis of a historical influence on pathogen genetic diversity in Benin, a West African country with a longstanding sea trade history. In Africa, T. gondii spatial structure is still non-uniformly studied and very few articles have reported strain genetic diversity in fauna and clinical forms of human toxoplasmosis so far, even in African diaspora. Sera from 758 domestic animals (mainly poultry) in two coastal areas (Cotonou and Ouidah) and two inland areas (Parakou and Natitingou) were tested for T. gondii antibodies using a Modified Agglutination Test (MAT). The hearts and brains of 69 seropositive animals were collected for parasite isolation in a mouse bioassay. Forty-five strains were obtained and 39 genotypes could be described via 15-microsatellite genotyping, with a predominance of the autochthonous African lineage Africa 1 (36/39). The remaining genotypes were Africa 4 variant TUB2 (1/39) and two identical isolates (clone) of Type III (2/39). No difference in terms of genotype distribution between inland and coastal sampling sites was found. In particular, contrarily to what has been described in Senegal, no type II (mostly present in Europe) was isolated in poultry from coastal cities. This result seems to refute a possible role of European maritime trade in Benin despite it was one of the most important hubs during the slave trade period. However, the presence of the Africa 1 genotype in Brazil, predominant in Benin, and genetic analyses suggest that the triangular trade was a route for the intercontinental dissemination of genetic strains from Africa to South America. This supports the possibility of contamination in humans and animals with potentially imported virulent strains.     

Is there a future for elephants in West Africa?

The elephants of West Africa have experienced a long history of human disturbance. Before 1800 they were much affected by the precolonial empires of the savanna and Sahelian zones, the trans-Saharan trade routes, and the coastal trade established by the Europeans. During the 19th century, the increasing demand for ivory from Europe and North America, the European penetration of the region, and the evolution of breech-loading rifles devastated the remaining elephants. The elephant population of West Africa collapsed before the outbreak of World War I because of intense hunting for ivory. This collapse pre-empted the decline that would have occurred anyway due to the rapid growth of the human population and consequent loss of habitat. Elephants now find themselves in about 70 small isolated populations that cover only 5% of the region. These fragments are very vulnerable – whether in the arid lands or the humid forests – to poaching and general human disturbance. There are few data on numbers; most of the population estimates are guesses. Two-thirds of the populations are thought to consist of fewer than 200 animals and therefore have a low probability of surviving the next century. As more habitat is lost to human activities, West African elephants will soon remain only in protected areas. But many parks and reserves are managed poorly and cannot offer effective protection; they do not guarantee a future for elephants. In addition, their crop-raiding habit makes elephants unpopular in rural communities surrounding protected areas. Human populations are expected to continue growing and resources for conservation are scarce. The future of West African elephants lies in a small network of well-protected areas.     

Decline of the marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) in West Africa and the need for immediate conservation action

The marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumenifer) is widespread and generally abundant in East and Southern Africa, but recent research has found range loss indicative of a population decline in West Africa in recent decades. In the absence of population data, we conducted an in-depth review of the status of the marabou in the region using a plethora of sources together comprising the largest database on the occurrence of the species. Despite caveats and coarseness of the assessment, we estimate the range loss at 52% in West Africa, including extirpation of approximately 64% of known nesting colonies since 2000. The resulting fragmentation has left a metapopulation of likely no more than 100 breeding pairs in The Gambia and Benin and an unknown number of breeders in Cameroon. Knowledge gaps about marabou population ecology in West Africa are significant and prevent an empirical assessment of regional extinction probability. Therefore, we recommend immediate field surveys, especially for breeding colonies, and research into threats and population dynamics. We also recommend the West African metapopulation be listed as regionally critically endangered and that a working group be formed comprising stakeholders from across the region to aid in assessing threats and implementing research and conservation action.     

Genetic and linguistic affinities between human populations in Eurasia and West Africa

This study examines the relationship between genetic distance and linguistic affiliation for five regional sets of populations from Eurasia and West Africa. Human genetic and linguistic diversity have been proposed to be generally correlated, either through a direct link, whereby linguistic and genetic affiliations reflect the same past population processes, or an indirect one, where the evolution of the two types of diversity is independent but conditioned by the same geographical factors. By controlling for proximity, indirect correlations due to common geography are eliminated, and any residual relationships found are likely to reflect common linguistic-genetic processes. Clear relationships between genetic distances and linguistic relatedness are detectable in Europe and East and Central Asia, but not in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, or West Africa. We suggest that linguistic and genetic affiliations will only be correlated under specific conditions, such as where there have been large-scale demic diffusions in the last few thousand years, and relative sedentism in the subsequent period.     

The need for double-sampling designs in survival studies: an application to monitor PEPFAR

Summary .  In 2007, there were 33.2 million people around the world living with HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS/WHO, 2007 ). In May 2003, the U.S. President announced a global program, known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address this epidemic. We seek to estimate patient mortality in PEPFAR in an effort to monitor and evaluate this program. This effort, however, is hampered by loss to follow-up that occurs at very high rates. As a consequence, standard survival data and analysis on observed nondropout data are generally biased, and provide no objective evidence to correct the potential bias. In this article, we apply double-sampling designs and methodology to PEPFAR data, and we obtain substantially different and more plausible estimates compared with standard methods (1-year mortality estimate of 9.6% compared to 1.7%). The results indicate that a double-sampling design is critical in providing objective evidence of possible nonignorable dropout and, thus, in obtaining accurate data in PEPFAR. Moreover, we show the need for appropriate analysis methods coupled with double-sampling designs.     

Chemical and biological components of atmospheric particulate matter and their impacts on human health and crops: a review

Aerobiologia - This article provides a brief review of morphological features (MFs), chemical and biological aspects of particulate matters (PMs) and their effects on humans and crops. Based on...     

Sociality and health: impacts of sociality on disease susceptibility and transmission in animal and human societies

This paper introduces a theme issue presenting the latest developments in research on the impacts of sociality on health and fitness. The articles that follow cover research on societies ranging from insects to humans. Variation in measures of fitness (i.e. survival and reproduction) has been linked to various aspects of sociality in humans and animals alike, and variability in individual health and condition has been recognized as a key mediator of these relationships. Viewed from a broad evolutionary perspective, the evolutionary transitions from a solitary lifestyle to group living have resulted in several new health-related costs and benefits of sociality. Social transmission of parasites within groups represents a major cost of group living, but some behavioural mechanisms, such as grooming, have evolved repeatedly to reduce this cost. Group living also has created novel costs in terms of altered susceptibility to infectious and non-infectious disease as a result of the unavoidable physiological consequences of social competition and integration, which are partly alleviated by social buffering in some vertebrates. Here, we define the relevant aspects of sociality, summarize their health-related costs and benefits, and discuss possible fitness measures in different study systems. Given the pervasive effects of social factors on health and fitness, we propose a synthesis of existing conceptual approaches in disease ecology, ecological immunology and behavioural neurosciences by adding sociality as a key factor, with the goal to generate a broader framework for organismal integration of health-related research.