Adults' Explanations and Children's Understanding of Contagious Illnesses, Non-Contagious Illnesses, and Injuries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toyama, Noriko

2016-01-01

The present study examined (1) whether children notice different causes for contagious illnesses, non-contagious illnesses, and injuries and (2) what information adults provide to children and to what extent this information is related to children's causal awareness. Studies 1 and 2 explored preschool teachers' and mothers' explanations of…

The Concept of Ecthyma Gangrenosum Illustrated by a Fusarium oxysporum Infection in an Immunocompetent Individual.

PubMed

Jiang, Yanping; Al-Hatmi, Abdullah M S; Xiang, Yining; Cao, Yu; van den Ende, Albert H G Gerrits; Curfs-Breuker, Ilse; Meis, Jacques F; Lu, Hongguang; de Hoog, G Sybren

2016-10-01

Ecthyma gangrenosum (EG) involves necrotic cutaneous lesions caused by bacteria, mainly Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and is usually seen in immunocompromised patients with septicemia. However, clinically similar infections have been published with fungi as etiologic agents. We present a case of an EG-like lesion due to Fusarium oxysporum confirmed by clinical diagnosis, culture and molecular identification and discuss the definition of EG.

Contagious Yawning in Autistic and Typical Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helt, Molly S.; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Snyder, Peter J.; Fein, Deborah A.

2010-01-01

The authors tested susceptibility to contagious yawning in 120 children, 1-6 years, to identify the time course of its emergence during development. Results indicated a substantial increase in the frequency of contagious yawning at 4 years. In a second study, the authors examined contagious yawning in 28 children with autism spectrum disorders…

What's the Difference Between Infectious and Contagious?

MedlinePlus

... said to be contagious . Some infections spread to people from an animal or insect, but are not contagious from another human. Lyme disease is an example: You can't catch it from someone you're hanging out with or pass in the street. It comes from the bite of an infected ...

Genetic characterization of poxviruses in Camelus dromedarius in Ethiopia, 2011-2014.

PubMed

Gelaye, Esayas; Achenbach, Jenna Elizabeth; Ayelet, Gelagay; Jenberie, Shiferaw; Yami, Martha; Grabherr, Reingard; Loitsch, Angelika; Diallo, Adama; Lamien, Charles Euloge

2016-10-01

Camelpox and camel contagious ecthyma are infectious viral diseases of camelids caused by camelpox virus (CMLV) and camel contagious ecthyma virus (CCEV), respectively. Even though, in Ethiopia, pox disease has been creating significant economic losses in camel production, little is known on the responsible pathogens and their genetic diversity. Thus, the present study aimed at isolation, identification and genetic characterization of the causative viruses. Accordingly, clinical case observations, infectious virus isolation, and molecular and phylogenetic analysis of poxviruses infecting camels in three regions and six districts in the country, Afar (Chifra), Oromia (Arero, Miyu and Yabello) and Somali (Gursum and Jijiga) between 2011 and 2014 were undertaken. The full hemagglutinin (HA) and partial A-type inclusion protein (ATIP) genes of CMLV and full major envelope protein (B2L) gene of CCEV of Ethiopian isolates were sequenced, analyzed and compared among each other and to foreign isolates. The viral isolation confirmed the presence of infectious poxviruses. The preliminary screening by PCR showed 27 CMLVs and 20 CCEVs. The sequence analyses showed that the HA and ATIP gene sequences are highly conserved within the local isolates of CMLVs, and formed a single cluster together with isolates from Somalia and Syria. Unlike CMLVs, the B2L gene analysis of Ethiopian CCEV showed few genetic variations. The phylogenetic analysis revealed three clusters of CCEV in Ethiopia with the isolates clustering according to their geographical origins. To our knowledge, this is the first report indicating the existence of CCEV in Ethiopia where camel contagious ecthyma was misdiagnosed as camelpox. Additionally, this study has also disclosed the existence of co-infections with CMLV and CCEV. A comprehensive characterization of poxviruses affecting camels in Ethiopia and the full genome sequencing of representative isolates are recommended to better understand the dynamics of pox

Social Modulation of Contagious Yawning in Wolves

PubMed Central

Romero, Teresa; Ito, Marie; Saito, Atsuko; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

2014-01-01

On the basis of observational and experimental evidence, several authors have proposed that contagious yawn is linked to our capacity for empathy, thus presenting a powerful tool to explore the root of empathy in animal evolution. The evidence for the occurrence of contagious yawning and its link to empathy, however, is meagre outside primates and only recently domestic dogs have demonstrated this ability when exposed to human yawns. Since dogs are unusually skilful at reading human communicative behaviors, it is unclear whether this phenomenon is deeply rooted in the evolutionary history of mammals or evolved de novo in dogs as a result of domestication. Here we show that wolves are capable of yawn contagion, suggesting that such ability is a common ancestral trait shared by other mammalian taxa. Furthermore, the strength of the social bond between the model and the subject positively affected the frequency of contagious yawning, suggesting that in wolves the susceptibility of yawn contagion correlates with the level of emotional proximity. Moreover, female wolves showed a shorter reaction time than males when observing yawns of close associates, suggesting that females are more responsive to their social stimuli. These results are consistent with the claim that the mechanism underlying contagious yawning relates to the capacity for empathy and suggests that basic building blocks of empathy might be present in a wide range of species. PMID:25162677

Social modulation of contagious yawning in wolves.

PubMed

Romero, Teresa; Ito, Marie; Saito, Atsuko; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

2014-01-01

On the basis of observational and experimental evidence, several authors have proposed that contagious yawn is linked to our capacity for empathy, thus presenting a powerful tool to explore the root of empathy in animal evolution. The evidence for the occurrence of contagious yawning and its link to empathy, however, is meagre outside primates and only recently domestic dogs have demonstrated this ability when exposed to human yawns. Since dogs are unusually skillful at reading human communicative behaviors, it is unclear whether this phenomenon is deeply rooted in the evolutionary history of mammals or evolved de novo in dogs as a result of domestication. Here we show that wolves are capable of yawn contagion, suggesting that such ability is a common ancestral trait shared by other mammalian taxa. Furthermore, the strength of the social bond between the model and the subject positively affected the frequency of contagious yawning, suggesting that in wolves the susceptibility of yawn contagion correlates with the level of emotional proximity. Moreover, female wolves showed a shorter reaction time than males when observing yawns of close associates, suggesting that females are more responsive to their social stimuli. These results are consistent with the claim that the mechanism underlying contagious yawning relates to the capacity for empathy and suggests that basic building blocks of empathy might be present in a wide range of species.

76 FR 16683 - Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-25

...-0112] RIN 0579-AD31 Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries AGENCY... contagious equine metritis (CEM) by incorporating an additional certification requirement for imported horses... contain specific provisions for the importation of horses from regions affected with contagious equine...

Contagious behavior: an alternative approach to mirror-like phenomena.

PubMed

Provine, Robert R

2014-04-01

Contagious behaviors such as yawning and itching/scratching have mirror-like properties and clearly defined stimulus and motor parameters; they are also relatively easy to study and should be part of the debate about mirror neurons and the neurological mechanisms of social behavior. The broadly tuned, multimodal stimuli of contagious behavior challenge present accounts of mirror mechanisms that focus on specific, mirrored acts.

Why contagious yawning does not (yet) equate to empathy.

PubMed

Massen, Jorg J M; Gallup, Andrew C

2017-09-01

Various studies and researchers have proposed a link between contagious yawning and empathy, yet the conceptual basis for the proposed connection is not clear and deserves critical evaluation. Therefore, we systematically examined the available empirical evidence addressing this association; i.e., a critical review of studies on inter-individual differences in contagion and self-reported values of empathy, differences in contagion based on familiarity or sex, and differences in contagion among individuals with psychological disorders, as well as developmental research, and brain imaging and neurophysiological studies. In doing so, we reveal a pattern of inconsistent and inconclusive evidence regarding the connection between contagious yawning and empathy. Furthermore, we identify study limitations and confounding variables, such as visual attention and social inhibition. Future research examining links between contagious yawning and empathy requires more rigorous investigation involving objective measurements to explicitly test for this connection. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Catch the wave: prairie dogs assess neighbours’ awareness using contagious displays

PubMed Central

Hare, James F.; Campbell, Kevin L.; Senkiw, Robert W.

2014-01-01

The jump–yip display of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) is contagious, spreading through a prairie dog town as ‘the wave’ through a stadium. Because contagious communication in primates serves to assess conspecific social awareness, we investigated whether instigators of jump–yip bouts adjusted their behaviour relative to the response of conspecifics recruited to display bouts. Increased responsiveness of neighbouring town members resulted in bout initiators devoting a significantly greater proportion of time to active foraging. Contagious jump–yips thus function to assess neighbours’ alertness, soliciting social information to assess effective conspecific group size in real time and reveal active probing of conspecific awareness consistent with theory of mind in these group-living rodents. PMID:24403324

Ingroup-outgroup bias in contagious yawning by chimpanzees supports link to empathy.

PubMed

Campbell, Matthew W; de Waal, Frans B M

2011-04-06

Humans favor others seen as similar to themselves (ingroup) over people seen as different (outgroup), even without explicitly stated bias. Ingroup-outgroup bias extends to involuntary responses, such as empathy for pain. However, empathy biases have not been tested in our close primate relatives. Contagious yawning has been theoretically and empirically linked to empathy. If empathy underlies contagious yawning, we predict that subjects should show an ingroup-outgroup bias by yawning more in response to watching ingroup members yawn than outgroup. Twenty-three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from two separate groups watched videos of familiar and unfamiliar individuals yawning or at rest (control). The chimpanzees yawned more when watching the familiar yawns than the familiar control or the unfamiliar yawns, demonstrating an ingroup-outgroup bias in contagious yawning. These results provide further empirical support that contagious yawning is a measure of empathy, which may be useful for evolutionary biology and mental health.

Virological and clinico-pathological features of orf virus infection in experimentally infected rabbits and mice.

PubMed

Cargnelutti, J F; Masuda, E K; Martins, M; Diel, D G; Rock, D L; Weiblen, R; Flores, E F

2011-01-01

Many aspects of the biology of orf virus (ORFV) infection remain poorly understood and attempts to establish animal models have yielded conflicting and non-reproducible results. We herein describe the characterization of ORFV infection and disease in rabbits and mice. A protocol of intradermal inoculation was employed to inoculate 10(8.5)TCID₅₀/mL of ORFV strain IA-82 in the skin of ears, of the back and labial commissures. All inoculated rabbits presented a clinical course characterized by erythema, macules, papules/vesicles or pustules that eventually dried originating scabs. Local signs started around days 3 and 4 post-inoculation (pi) and lasted 3-10 days. Virus was recovered from lesions between days 2 and 14pi. Histological examination of lesions revealed focal proliferative dermatitis with ballooning degeneration and eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in keratinocytes, histological hallmarks of contagious ecthyma in sheep. A similar, albeit milder clinical course occurred in 5/10 inoculated mice; virus was recovered from lesions from three animals. Inoculated lambs - used as controls - developed severe lesions of contagious ecthyma. VN tests performed at day 28pi failed to detect neutralizing antibodies in all inoculated animals. In contrast, convalescent rabbit sera were positive by ELISA at dilutions from 100 to 400. These results show that rabbits are susceptible to ORFV infection and thus may be used to study selected aspects of ORFV biology. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 31220 - Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

.... APHIS-2008-0112] RIN 0579-AD31 Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries... regarding the importation of horses from countries affected with contagious equine metritis (CEM) by... disease of horses and other equines caused by an infection with the bacterium Taylorella equigenitalis. On...

Ingroup-Outgroup Bias in Contagious Yawning by Chimpanzees Supports Link to Empathy

PubMed Central

Campbell, Matthew W.; de Waal, Frans B. M.

2011-01-01

Humans favor others seen as similar to themselves (ingroup) over people seen as different (outgroup), even without explicitly stated bias. Ingroup-outgroup bias extends to involuntary responses, such as empathy for pain. However, empathy biases have not been tested in our close primate relatives. Contagious yawning has been theoretically and empirically linked to empathy. If empathy underlies contagious yawning, we predict that subjects should show an ingroup-outgroup bias by yawning more in response to watching ingroup members yawn than outgroup. Twenty-three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from two separate groups watched videos of familiar and unfamiliar individuals yawning or at rest (control). The chimpanzees yawned more when watching the familiar yawns than the familiar control or the unfamiliar yawns, demonstrating an ingroup-outgroup bias in contagious yawning. These results provide further empirical support that contagious yawning is a measure of empathy, which may be useful for evolutionary biology and mental health. PMID:21494669

Contagious itch: what we know and what we would like to know

PubMed Central

Schut, C.; Grossman, S.; Gieler, U.; Kupfer, J.; Yosipovitch, G.

2015-01-01

All humans experience itch in the course of their life. Even a discussion on the topic of itch or seeing people scratch can evoke the desire to scratch. These events are coined “contagious itch” and are very common. We and others have shown that videos showing people scratching and pictures of affected skin or insects can induce itch in healthy persons and chronic itch patients. In our studies, patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) were more susceptible to visual itch cues than healthy. Also, personality traits like agreeableness and public self-consciousness were associated with induced scratching in skin patients, while neuroticism correlated with induced itch in healthy subjects. The underlying course of contagious itch is not yet fully understood. It is hypothesized that there are human mirror neurons that are active when we imitate actions and/or negative affect. Until now, there has been only limited data on the mechanisms of brain activation in contagious itch though. We have barely begun to understand the underlying physiological reactions and the triggering factors of this phenomenon. We summarize what we currently know about contagious itch and provide some suggestions what future research should focus on. PMID:25717300

ROVs in a Bucket: Contagious, Experiential Learning by Building Inexpensive, Underwater Robots

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

R., “Toward an applied theory of experiential learning ,” in C. Cooper (ed.) Theories of Group Process, London: John Wiley. (1975) [8] C. Beard, JP...ROVs in a Bucket” Contagious, Experiential Learning by Building Inexpensive, Underwater Robots Douglas R. Levin Krista Trono Christine...Contagious, Experiential Learning by Building Inexpensive, Underwater Robots 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S

Hitting Is Contagious: Experience and Action Induction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Rob; Beilock, Sian L.

2011-01-01

In baseball, it is believed that "hitting is contagious," that is, probability of success increases if the previous few batters get a hit. Could this effect be partially explained by action induction--that is, the tendency to perform an action related to one that has just been observed? A simulation was used to investigate the effect of inducing…

Supreme Court Holds That Contagious Diseases Are Handicaps.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flygare, Thomas J.

1987-01-01

Describes a complex case involving termination of a third-grade teacher with recurrent tuberculosis. The United States Supreme Court upheld a circuit court's ruling that the teacher's condition satisfied section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act protecting handicapped persons against discrimination. Since contagiousness was not addressed, the…

Transporting Patients with Lethal Contagious Infections

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-01

will be analyzed. If the patient requires a BSL-4 patient care room, he or she must be transported to the US Army Medical Research Institute of...consists of a physician, a registered nurse, and 4 to 6 medics who can manage one patient (Figure 2). The team can provide emer- gency care, such as airway...CLINICAL DECISIONS Section Editor: Colleen Swartz, RN, MSN, CCRN Transporting Patients with Lethal Contagious Infections Q If a trauma patient is

Presence of Contagious Yawning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Kikuchi, Yukiko; Akechi, Hironori; Tojo, Yoshikuni; Osanai, Hiroo; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

2013-01-01

Most previous studies suggest diminished susceptibility to contagious yawning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it could be driven by their atypical attention to the face. To test this hypothesis, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children were shown yawning and control movies. To ensure participants' attention to the face, an eye tracker controlled the onset of the yawning and control stimuli. Results demonstrated that both TD children and children with ASD yawned more frequently when they watched the yawning stimuli than the control stimuli. It is suggested therefore that the absence of contagious yawning in children with ASD, as reported in previous studies, might relate to their weaker tendency to spontaneously attend to others' faces. PMID:23970970

Computer animations stimulate contagious yawning in chimpanzees

PubMed Central

Campbell, Matthew W.; Carter, J. Devyn; Proctor, Darby; Eisenberg, Michelle L.; de Waal, Frans B. M.

2009-01-01

People empathize with fictional displays of behaviour, including those of cartoons and computer animations, even though the stimuli are obviously artificial. However, the extent to which other animals also may respond empathetically to animations has yet to be determined. Animations provide a potentially useful tool for exploring non-human behaviour, cognition and empathy because computer-generated stimuli offer complete control over variables and the ability to program stimuli that could not be captured on video. Establishing computer animations as a viable tool requires that non-human subjects identify with and respond to animations in a way similar to the way they do to images of actual conspecifics. Contagious yawning has been linked to empathy and poses a good test of involuntary identification and motor mimicry. We presented 24 chimpanzees with three-dimensional computer-animated chimpanzees yawning or displaying control mouth movements. The apes yawned significantly more in response to the yawn animations than to the controls, implying identification with the animations. These results support the phenomenon of contagious yawning in chimpanzees and suggest an empathic response to animations. Understanding how chimpanzees connect with animations, to both empathize and imitate, may help us to understand how humans do the same. PMID:19740888

Individual Variation in Contagious Yawning Susceptibility Is Highly Stable and Largely Unexplained by Empathy or Other Known Factors

PubMed Central

Bartholomew, Alex J.; Cirulli, Elizabeth T.

2014-01-01

The contagious aspect of yawning is a well-known phenomenon that exhibits variation in the human population. Despite the observed variation, few studies have addressed its intra-individual reliability or the factors modulating differences in the susceptibility of healthy volunteers. Due to its obvious biological basis and impairment in diseases like autism and schizophrenia, a better understanding of this trait could lead to novel insights into these conditions and the general biological functioning of humans. We administered 328 participants a 3-minute yawning video stimulus, a cognitive battery, and a comprehensive questionnaire that included measures of empathy, emotional contagion, circadian energy rhythms, and sleepiness. Individual contagious yawning measurements were found to be highly stable across testing sessions, both in a lab setting and if administered remotely online, confirming that certain healthy individuals are less susceptible to contagious yawns than are others. Additionally, most individuals who failed to contagiously yawn in our study were not simply suppressing their reaction, as they reported not even feeling like yawning in response to the stimulus. In contrast to previous studies indicating that empathy, time of day, or intelligence may influence contagious yawning susceptibility, we found no influence of these variables once accounting for the age of the participant. Participants were less likely to show contagious yawning as their age increased, even when restricting to ages of less than 40 years. However, age was only able to explain 8% of the variability in the contagious yawn response. The vast majority of the variability in this extremely stable trait remained unexplained, suggesting that studies of its inheritance are warranted. PMID:24632594

Should Persons with Contagious Diseases Be Barred from School?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roe, Richard L.

1987-01-01

Reviews recent court decisions regarding whether individuals with contagious diseases may be barred from public schools. Devotes specific attention to the issue of whether certain communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) can be classified as handicaps and thereby qualify a person for protection…

Ecthyma Gangrenosum: Vulvar Ulcers, Pseudomonas and Pancytopenia, A Case Report of an 18- Month-Old Female.

PubMed

Todd, Nicole; Boucher, Julia E; Bassal, Mylène; Dumont, Tania; Fleming, Nathalie

2018-06-06

An 18-month-old female presenting with severe vulvar ulcers and pancytopenia with investigations revealing P.aeruginosa bacteremia. Previously healthy 18-month-old female presented with 6 days of fevers, vulvar rash and ulcers. Vulvar cultures demonstrated S.aureus and P.aeruginosa. Bloodwork showed pancytopenia and P.aeruginosa bacteremia. She started broad spectrum antibiotics. Bone marrow aspirate revealed a hypocellular marrow with erythroid dysplasia. Vulvar ulcers progressed rapidly, therefore MRI was performed to rule out necrotizing fasciitis. She was diagnosed with Ecthyma Gangrenosum (EG). Three months after initial presentation, she was diagnosed with precursor B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This case highlights that health care providers should suspect EG when severe vulvar ulcers are present with P.aeruginosa infection and neutropenia. As EG poses significant morbidity and mortality, its presence should prompt aggressive antimicrobial therapy and mobilization of a multi-disciplinary team to initiate work-up for an underlying immunodeficiency syndrome or malignancy. This case also illustrates that surgical debridement may be avoided in certain patients with EG as long as meticulous wound care and close monitoring with a multidisciplinary team are in place. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

What To Do When Contagious Disease Strikes Your School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Bar Association, Chicago, IL.

This publication presents 10 documents collected to accompany a seminar entitled "What To Do When Contagious Disease Strikes Your School," presented at the 31st annual convention of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education in 1985. The materials include (1) an agenda of the seminar listing the speakers, their topics, and…

Using Friends as Sensors to Detect Global-Scale Contagious Outbreaks

PubMed Central

Garcia-Herranz, Manuel; Moro, Esteban; Cebrian, Manuel; Christakis, Nicholas A.; Fowler, James H.

2014-01-01

Recent research has focused on the monitoring of global–scale online data for improved detection of epidemics, mood patterns, movements in the stock market political revolutions, box-office revenues, consumer behaviour and many other important phenomena. However, privacy considerations and the sheer scale of data available online are quickly making global monitoring infeasible, and existing methods do not take full advantage of local network structure to identify key nodes for monitoring. Here, we develop a model of the contagious spread of information in a global-scale, publicly-articulated social network and show that a simple method can yield not just early detection, but advance warning of contagious outbreaks. In this method, we randomly choose a small fraction of nodes in the network and then we randomly choose a friend of each node to include in a group for local monitoring. Using six months of data from most of the full Twittersphere, we show that this friend group is more central in the network and it helps us to detect viral outbreaks of the use of novel hashtags about 7 days earlier than we could with an equal-sized randomly chosen group. Moreover, the method actually works better than expected due to network structure alone because highly central actors are both more active and exhibit increased diversity in the information they transmit to others. These results suggest that local monitoring is not just more efficient, but also more effective, and it may be applied to monitor contagious processes in global–scale networks. PMID:24718030

Using friends as sensors to detect global-scale contagious outbreaks.

PubMed

Garcia-Herranz, Manuel; Moro, Esteban; Cebrian, Manuel; Christakis, Nicholas A; Fowler, James H

2014-01-01

Recent research has focused on the monitoring of global-scale online data for improved detection of epidemics, mood patterns, movements in the stock market political revolutions, box-office revenues, consumer behaviour and many other important phenomena. However, privacy considerations and the sheer scale of data available online are quickly making global monitoring infeasible, and existing methods do not take full advantage of local network structure to identify key nodes for monitoring. Here, we develop a model of the contagious spread of information in a global-scale, publicly-articulated social network and show that a simple method can yield not just early detection, but advance warning of contagious outbreaks. In this method, we randomly choose a small fraction of nodes in the network and then we randomly choose a friend of each node to include in a group for local monitoring. Using six months of data from most of the full Twittersphere, we show that this friend group is more central in the network and it helps us to detect viral outbreaks of the use of novel hashtags about 7 days earlier than we could with an equal-sized randomly chosen group. Moreover, the method actually works better than expected due to network structure alone because highly central actors are both more active and exhibit increased diversity in the information they transmit to others. These results suggest that local monitoring is not just more efficient, but also more effective, and it may be applied to monitor contagious processes in global-scale networks.

Discrete dynamics of contagious social diseases: Example of obesity.

PubMed

Demongeot, J; Hansen, O; Taramasco, C

2016-01-01

Modeling contagious diseases needs to incorporate information about social networks through which the disease spreads as well as data about demographic and genetic changes in the susceptible population. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework (conceptualization and formalization) which seeks to model obesity as a process of transformation of one's own body determined by individual (physical and psychological), inter-individual (relational, i.e., relative to the relationship between the individual and others) and socio-cultural (environmental, i.e., relative to the relationship between the individual and his milieu) factors. Individual and inter-individual factors are tied to each other in a socio-cultural context whose impact is notably related to the visibility of anybody being exposed on the public stage in a non-contingent way. The question we are dealing with in this article is whether such kind of social diseases, i.e., depending upon socio-environmental exposure, can be considered as "contagious". In other words, can obesity be propagated from individual to individual or from environmental sources throughout an entire population?

Development of a fluorescent probe-based recombinase polymerase amplification assay for rapid detection of Orf virus.

PubMed

Yang, Yang; Qin, Xiaodong; Wang, Guangxiang; Zhang, Yuen; Shang, Youjun; Zhang, Zhidong

2015-12-02

Orf virus (ORFV) is the causative agent of Orf (also known as contagious ecthyma or contagious papular dermatitis), a severe infectious skin disease in goats, sheep and other ruminants. The rapid detection of ORFV is of great importance in disease control and highly needed. A isothermal molecular diagnostic approach, termed recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), is considered as an novel and rapid alternative techonology to PCR assay. In the present study, a novel fluorescent probe based on RPA assay (ORFV exo RPA assay) was developed. The developed ORFV exo RPA assay was capable of as low as 100 copies of ORFV DNA /reaction and was highly specific, with no cross-reaction with closely related viruses (capripox virus, foot-and-mouth disease virus or peste des petits ruminants virus). Further assessment with clinical samples showed that the developed ORFV exo RPA assay has good correlation with qPCR assays for detection of ORFV. These results suggest that the developed ORFV exo RPA assay is suitable for rapid detection of ORFV.

[A patient with acute Philadelphia-chromosome-positive mixed phenotype leukemia developing ecthyma gangrenosum while undergoing combined imatinib mesylate chemotherapy].

PubMed

Suzuki, Kei; Sekine, Takao

2014-05-01

A 67-year-old woman with acute Philadelphia-chromosome-positive mixed phenotype leukemia developed bilateral periorbital ecthyma gangrenousum (EG) subsequent to periorbital edema while undergoing combined imatinib mesylate (imatinib) chemotherapy. Although initial periorbital edema was considered an imatinib side effect, the lesion deteriorated rapidly with high fever in the neutropenic phase, and the woman died of septic shock. Cultures from blood and exudative fluid grew Pseudomonas aeruginosa, after which EG was diagnosed. EG is a well-recognized emergent cutaneous infection most commonly associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bactremia. Because some patients present with EG a few days prior to developing life-threatening septicemia, it is important that EG be diagnosed correctly. Imatinib side effects such as edema are usually tolerable, and imatinib is widely used to treat Philadelphia-chromosome-positive leukemia, particularly in those with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and neutropenic patients undergoing imatinib therapy are expected to increase in number. Delay in initiating appropriate therapy is correlated with poor outcome, so drug side effects and EG must be carefully differentiated when skin edema with surrounding erythema is noted in neutropenic patients undergoing imatinib therapy.

Mirror neuron activity during contagious yawning--an fMRI study.

PubMed

Haker, Helene; Kawohl, Wolfram; Herwig, Uwe; Rössler, Wulf

2013-03-01

Yawning is contagious. However, little research has been done to elucidate the neuronal representation of this phenomenon. Our study objective was to test the hypothesis that the human mirror neuron system (MNS) is activated by visually perceived yawning. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain activity during contagious yawning (CY). Signal-dependent changes in blood oxygen levels were compared when subjects viewed videotapes of yawning faces as opposed to faces with a neutral expression. In response to yawning, subjects showed unilateral activation of their Brodmann's area 9 (BA 9) portion of the right inferior frontal gyrus, a region of the MNS. In this way, two individuals could share physiological and associated emotional states based on perceived motor patterns. This is one component of empathy (motor empathy) that underlies the development of cognitive empathy. The BA 9 is reportedly active in tasks requiring mentalizing abilities. Our results emphasize the connection between the MNS and higher cognitive empathic functions, including mentalizing. We conclude that CY is based on a functional substrate of empathy.

An Observational Investigation of Behavioral Contagion in Common Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus): Indications for Contagious Scent-Marking

PubMed Central

Massen, Jorg J. M.; Šlipogor, Vedrana; Gallup, Andrew C.

2016-01-01

Behavioral contagion is suggested to promote group coordination that may facilitate activity transitions, increased vigilance, and state matching. Apart from contagious yawning, however, very little attention has been given to this phenomenon, and studies on contagious yawning in primates have so far only focused on Old World monkeys and apes. Here we studied behavioral contagion in common marmosets, a species for which group coordination and vigilance are paramount. In particular, we investigated the contagiousness of yawning, stretching, scratching, tongue protrusion, gnawing, and scent-marking. We coded these behaviors from 14 adult marmosets, from two different social groups. During testing sessions, animals were separated into groups of four individuals for 20-min observation periods, across three distinct diurnal time points (morning, midday, and afternoon) to test for circadian patterns. We observed almost no yawning (0.12 yawns/h) and very little stretching behavior. For all other behaviors, which were more common, we found several temporal and inter-individual differences (i.e., sex, age, dominance status) predictive of these responses. Moreover, we found that gnawing and scent-marking, which almost always co-occurred as a fixed-action pattern, were highly temporally clustered within observation sessions. We discuss the relative absence of yawning in marmosets as well as the possible function of contagious scent-marking, and provide suggestions for future research into the proximate and ultimate functions of these behaviors in marmosets. PMID:27563294

Children's Understanding of the Transmission of Genetic Disorders and Contagious Illnesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raman, Lakshmi; Gelman, Susan A.

2005-01-01

The authors conducted 4 studies suggesting that children attribute different modes of transmission to genetic disorders and contagious illnesses. Study 1 presented preschoolers through 5th graders and adults with "switched-at-birth" scenarios for various disorders. Study 2 presented preschoolers with the same disorders but used contagion links in…

Chimpanzees Show a Developmental Increase in Susceptibility to Contagious Yawning: A Test of the Effect of Ontogeny and Emotional Closeness on Yawn Contagion

PubMed Central

Madsen, Elainie Alenkær; Persson, Tomas; Sayehli, Susan; Lenninger, Sara; Sonesson, Göran

2013-01-01

Contagious yawning has been reported for humans, dogs and several non-human primate species, and associated with empathy in humans and other primates. Still, the function, development and underlying mechanisms of contagious yawning remain unclear. Humans and dogs show a developmental increase in susceptibility to yawn contagion, with children showing an increase around the age of four, when also empathy-related behaviours and accurate identification of others’ emotions begin to clearly evince. Explicit tests of yawn contagion in non-human apes have only involved adult individuals and examined the existence of conspecific yawn contagion. Here we report the first study of heterospecific contagious yawning in primates, and the ontogeny of susceptibility thereto in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus. We examined whether emotional closeness, defined as attachment history with the yawning model, affected the strength of contagion, and compared the contagiousness of yawning to nose-wiping. Thirty-three orphaned chimpanzees observed an unfamiliar and familiar human (their surrogate human mother) yawn, gape and nose-wipe. Yawning, but not nose-wiping, was contagious for juvenile chimpanzees, while infants were immune to contagion. Like humans and dogs, chimpanzees are subject to a developmental trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning, and respond to heterospecific yawn stimuli. Emotional closeness with the model did not affect contagion. The familiarity-biased social modulatory effect on yawn contagion previously found among some adult primates, seem to only emerge later in development, or be limited to interactions with conspecifics. The influence of the ‘chameleon effect’, targeted vs. generalised empathy, perspective-taking and visual attention on contagious yawning is discussed. PMID:24146848

Efficient detection of contagious outbreaks in massive metropolitan encounter networks

PubMed Central

Sun, Lijun; Axhausen, Kay W.; Lee, Der-Horng; Cebrian, Manuel

2014-01-01

Physical contact remains difficult to trace in large metropolitan networks, though it is a key vehicle for the transmission of contagious outbreaks. Co-presence encounters during daily transit use provide us with a city-scale time-resolved physical contact network, consisting of 1 billion contacts among 3 million transit users. Here, we study the advantage that knowledge of such co-presence structures may provide for early detection of contagious outbreaks. We first examine the “friend sensor” scheme - a simple, but universal strategy requiring only local information - and demonstrate that it provides significant early detection of simulated outbreaks. Taking advantage of the full network structure, we then identify advanced “global sensor sets”, obtaining substantial early warning times savings over the friends sensor scheme. Individuals with highest number of encounters are the most efficient sensors, with performance comparable to individuals with the highest travel frequency, exploratory behavior and structural centrality. An efficiency balance emerges when testing the dependency on sensor size and evaluating sensor reliability; we find that substantial and reliable lead-time could be attained by monitoring only 0.01% of the population with the highest degree. PMID:24903017

High Court Rules that Law Bars Bias against Persons with Contagious Ills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fields, Cheryl M.

1987-01-01

The Supreme Court has ruled that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which protects disabled people from discrimination, covers persons with contagious diseases. This decision is seen as strengthening the rights of people suffering from AIDS as well as other diseases. (MSE)

A generic model of contagious disease and its application to human-to-human transmission of avian influenza.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hirsch, Gary B.

2007-03-01

Modeling contagious diseases has taken on greater importance over the past several years as diseases such as SARS and avian influenza have raised concern about worldwide pandemics. Most models developed to consider projected outbreaks have been specific to a single disease. This paper describes a generic System Dynamics contagious disease model and its application to human-to-human transmission of a mutant version of avian influenza. The model offers the option of calculating rates of new infections over time based either on a fixed ''reproductive number'' that is traditional in contagious disease models or on contact rates for different sub-populations and likelihoodmore » of transmission per contact. The paper reports on results with various types of interventions. These results suggest the potential importance of contact tracing, limited quarantine, and targeted vaccination strategies as methods for controlling outbreaks, especially when vaccine supplies may initially be limited and the efficacy of anti-viral drugs uncertain.« less

Visual Darkness Reduces Perceived Risk of Contagious-Disease Transmission From Interpersonal Interaction.

PubMed

Dong, Ping; Zhong, Chen-Bo

2018-05-01

We examined the psychological impact of visual darkness on people's perceived risk of contagious-disease transmission. We posited that darkness triggers an abstract construal level and increases perceived social distance from others, rendering threats from others to seem less relevant to the self. We found that participants staying in a dimly lit room (Studies 1 and 3-5) or wearing sunglasses (Study 2) tended to estimate a lower risk of catching contagious diseases from others than did those staying in a brightly lit room or wearing clear glasses. The effect persisted in both laboratory (Studies 1-4) and real-life settings (Study 5). The effect arises because visual darkness elevates perceived social distance from the contagion (Study 3) and is attenuated among abstract (vs. concrete) thinkers (Study 4). These findings delineate a systematic, unconscious influence of visual darkness-a subtle yet pervasive situational factor-on perceived risk of contagion. Theoretical contributions and policy implications are discussed.

[Highly contagious diseases with human-to-human transmission].

PubMed

Rybka, Aleš; Szanyi, Juraj; Kapla, Jaroslav; Plíšek, Stanislav

2012-12-01

Highly contagious diseases are caused by various biological agents that pose a risk to individuals and may have a potential for public health impact. They result in high mortality and morbidity rates, might cause public panic and therefore require special measures. The pathogens that can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person are the riskiest for clinicians (Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Lassa virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Variola major, SARS virus and Yersinia pestis). Human-to-human transmission has not been confirmed for the other biological agents and therefore they pose a very low risk for population.

Cross-border collaboration in the field of highly contagious livestock diseases: a general framework for policy support.

PubMed

Hop, G E; Mourits, M C M; Oude Lansink, A G J M; Saatkamp, H W

2014-08-01

This paper analyses the potential gains and the main challenges for increased cross-border collaboration in the control of highly contagious livestock diseases in regions with cross-border reliance on production and consumption of livestock commodities. The aim of this intensification of cross-border collaboration is to retain the economic advantages of cross-border trade in livestock and livestock commodities while maintaining a low risk of highly contagious livestock diseases. From these two foci, possibilities for future policy making with respect to highly contagious livestock diseases are discussed: peacetime cross-border cooperation to improve the cost-effectiveness of routine veterinary measures and crisis time cross-border harmonization of current disease control strategies. A general disease management framework was used to describe the way in which these two fields are related to and affect the epidemiological system and, consequently, how they impact the stakeholders. In addition to this framework, the importance of a good understanding of influencing factors, that is, the production structure of livestock, was stressed because these factors are important determinants of the frequency and magnitude of highly contagious livestock diseases and their economic impact. The use of the suggested integrated approach was illustrated for the extended cross-border region of the Netherlands and Germany, that is, North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony. For this region, current difficulties in cross-border trade in livestock and livestock commodities and possibilities for future cross-border collaboration were examined. The concepts and ideas presented in this paper should foster future development of cross-border collaboration in animal health control. © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

[Structural requirements for the management of patients with highly contagious life-threatening infectious diseases: update 2015].

PubMed

Grünewald, Thomas

2015-07-01

The care of highly contagious life-threatening infectious diseases (HLID) requires specialized treatment facilities that are capable of strict isolation measures and appropriate medical treatment. The German approach to the management of these diseases, which is maintained by the Permanent Working Group of Medical Competence and Treatment Centers for Highly Contagious and Life-Threatening Diseases (STAKOB) is adjusted in the present publication with regards to recent experiences and upcoming needs. Clear synergies in using infrastructures and bundling of resources have led to similar efforts at the European level. The German concept, therefore, has a pioneering role. This update is intended to improve professional patient care and also minimize the risk of disease spread and transmission.

Catch It If You Can: How Contagious Motivation Improves Group Projects and Course Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krishen, Anjala S.

2013-01-01

This article proposes a theory-based contagious motivation model focusing on enhancing student perceptions of group projects and ultimately course satisfaction. Moreover, drawing from both pedagogical and organizational behavior literatures, a model is presented that ties together intrinsic motivation theory with social contagion and…

[Individual rights vs public health in the fight against contagious diseases: proposals to improve the current legal framework].

PubMed

Salamero Teixidó, Laura

2016-11-01

The public health protection constitutional mandate requires public powers to protect the population from contagious diseases. This requires a legal framework that both protects public health effectively and respects individual rights and freedoms that could be undermined by the public administrations. This article analyses, from a legal perspective, the current legal framework regulating the adoption of health measures to protect public health against contagious diseases. It argues that current regulations generate legal uncertainty on the basis of the wide range of discretionary powers they give to the public administration and the lack of provisions for limiting these powers. As a result, the guarantee mechanisms (primarily judicial consent) only weakly protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens affected by health measures. To conclude, the article proposes several amendments to improve public health regulations related to contagious diseases. The purpose is to render a legal framework that offers more legal certainty, in which it is possible to protect individual rights and freedoms when measures are adopted, without sacrificing the effective protection of public health. Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Contagious Yawning and Seasonal Climate Variation

PubMed Central

Gallup, Andrew C.; Eldakar, Omar Tonsi

2011-01-01

Recent evidence suggests that yawning is a thermoregulatory behavior. To explore this possibility further, the frequency of contagious yawning in humans was measured while outdoors in a desert climate in the United States during two distinct temperature ranges and seasons (winter: 22°C; early summer: 37°C). As predicted, the proportion of pedestrians who yawned in response to seeing pictures of people yawning differed significantly between the two conditions (winter: 45%; summer: 24%). Across conditions yawning occurred at lower ambient temperatures, and the tendency to yawn during each season was associated with the length of time spent outside prior to being tested. Participants were more likely to yawn in the milder climate after spending long periods of time outside, while prolonged exposure to ambient temperatures at or above body temperature was associated with reduced yawning. This is the first report to show that the incidence of yawning in humans is associated with seasonal climate variation, further demonstrating that yawn-induced contagion effects can be mediated by factors unrelated to individual social characteristics or cognitive development. PMID:21960970

Security Investment in Contagious Networks.

PubMed

Hasheminasab, Seyed Alireza; Tork Ladani, Behrouz

2018-01-16

Security of the systems is normally interdependent in such a way that security risks of one part affect other parts and threats spread through the vulnerable links in the network. So, the risks of the systems can be mitigated through investments in the security of interconnecting links. This article takes an innovative look at the problem of security investment of nodes on their vulnerable links in a given contagious network as a game-theoretic model that can be applied to a variety of applications including information systems. In the proposed game model, each node computes its corresponding risk based on the value of its assets, vulnerabilities, and threats to determine the optimum level of security investments on its external links respecting its limited budget. Furthermore, direct and indirect nonlinear influences of a node's security investment on the risks of other nodes are considered. The existence and uniqueness of the game's Nash equilibrium in the proposed game are also proved. Further analysis of the model in a practical case revealed that taking advantage of the investment effects of other players, perfectly rational players (i.e., those who use the utility function of the proposed game model) make more cost-effective decisions than selfish nonrational or semirational players. © 2018 Society for Risk Analysis.

The Use of Illegal Drugs and Infectious Contagious Diseases: Knowledge and Intervention among Dockworkers

PubMed Central

Cezar-Vaz, Marta Regina; Bonow, Clarice Alves; da Silva, Mara Regina Santos; de Farias, Francisca Lucélia Ribeiro; de Almeida, Marlise Capa Verde

2016-01-01

This study’s objective was to analyze the use of illegal drugs by dockworkers and provide risk communication regarding the use of illegal drugs and test for infectious contagious diseases among dockworkers. This cross-sectional study including an intervention addressed to 232 dockworkers, who were individually interviewed, as well as communication of risk with testing for infectious contagious diseases for 93 dockworkers from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Poisson regression analysis was used. Twenty-nine workers reported the use of illegal drugs. Poisson regression indicated that being a wharfage worker, smoker, having a high income, and heavier workload increases the prevalence of the use of illegal drugs. During risk communication, two workers were diagnosed with hepatitis B (2.2%), three (3.2%) with hepatitis C, two (2.2%) with syphilis. None of the workers, though, had HIV. This study provides evidence that can motivate further research on the topic and also lead to treatment of individuals to improve work safety, productivity, and the health of workers. PMID:26771625

The Use of Illegal Drugs and Infectious Contagious Diseases: Knowledge and Intervention among Dockworkers.

PubMed

Cezar-Vaz, Marta Regina; Bonow, Clarice Alves; da Silva, Mara Regina Santos; de Farias, Francisca Lucélia Ribeiro; de Almeida, Marlise Capa Verde

2016-01-12

This study's objective was to analyze the use of illegal drugs by dockworkers and provide risk communication regarding the use of illegal drugs and test for infectious contagious diseases among dockworkers. This cross-sectional study including an intervention addressed to 232 dockworkers, who were individually interviewed, as well as communication of risk with testing for infectious contagious diseases for 93 dockworkers from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Poisson regression analysis was used. Twenty-nine workers reported the use of illegal drugs. Poisson regression indicated that being a wharfage worker, smoker, having a high income, and heavier workload increases the prevalence of the use of illegal drugs. During risk communication, two workers were diagnosed with hepatitis B (2.2%), three (3.2%) with hepatitis C, two (2.2%) with syphilis. None of the workers, though, had HIV. This study provides evidence that can motivate further research on the topic and also lead to treatment of individuals to improve work safety, productivity, and the health of workers.

Auditory Contagious Yawning in Humans: An Investigation into Affiliation and Status Effects

PubMed Central

Massen, Jorg J. M.; Church, Allyson M.; Gallup, Andrew C.

2015-01-01

While comparative research on contagious yawning has grown substantially in the past few years, both the interpersonal factors influencing this response and the sensory modalities involved in its activation in humans remain relatively unknown. Extending upon previous studies showing various in-group and status effects in non-human great apes, we performed an initial study to investigate how the political affiliation (Democrat vs. Republican) and status (high vs. low) of target stimuli influences auditory contagious yawning, as well as the urge to yawn, in humans. Self-report responses and a subset of video recordings were analyzed from 118 undergraduate students in the US following exposure to either breathing (control) or yawning (experimental) vocalizations paired with images of former US Presidents (high status) and their respective Cabinet Secretaries of Commerce (low status). The overall results validate the use of auditory stimuli to prompt yawn contagion, with greater response in the experimental than the control condition. There was also a negative effect of political status on self-reported yawning and the self-reported urge to yawn irrespective of the condition. In contrast, we found no evidence for a political affiliation bias in this response. These preliminary findings are discussed in terms of the existing comparative evidence, though we highlight limitations in the current investigation and we provide suggestions for future research in this area. PMID:26617557

Mycoplasma agalactiae, an Etiological Agent of Contagious Agalactia in Small Ruminants: A Review

PubMed Central

Kumar, Amit; Rahal, Anu; Verma, Amit Kumar

2014-01-01

Mycoplasma agalactiae is one of the causal agents of classical contagious agalactia (CA), a serious, economically important but neglected enzootic disease of small ruminants. It occurs in many parts of the world and most notably in the Mediterranean Basin. Following the infection common complications are septicaemia, mastitis, arthritis, pleurisy, pneumonia, and keratoconjunctivitis. Primary or tentative diagnosis of the organism is based upon clinical signs. Various serological tests, namely, growth precipitation, immunofluorescence, complement fixation test, haemagglutination inhibition, agglutination, immunodiffusion, enzyme immunoassays, immunoelectrophoresis, blotting techniques, and others, are available. Molecular tools seem to be much more sensitive, specific, and faster and help to differentiate various strains. The real-time PCR, multiplex PCR, quantitative PCR, PCR-RFLP, MLST, and gene probes, complementary to segments of chromosomal DNA or 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), have strengthened the diagnosis of M. agalactiae. Both live attenuated and adjuvant (alum precipitated or saponified) inactivated vaccines are available with greater use of inactivated ones due to lack of side effects. The present review discusses the etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical signs of contagious agalactia in small ruminants along with trends and advances in its diagnosis, treatment, vaccination, prevention, and control strategies that will help in countering this disease. PMID:25097796

Predictive modelling of contagious deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Rosa, Isabel M D; Purves, Drew; Souza, Carlos; Ewers, Robert M

2013-01-01

Tropical forests are diminishing in extent due primarily to the rapid expansion of agriculture, but the future magnitude and geographical distribution of future tropical deforestation is uncertain. Here, we introduce a dynamic and spatially-explicit model of deforestation that predicts the potential magnitude and spatial pattern of Amazon deforestation. Our model differs from previous models in three ways: (1) it is probabilistic and quantifies uncertainty around predictions and parameters; (2) the overall deforestation rate emerges "bottom up", as the sum of local-scale deforestation driven by local processes; and (3) deforestation is contagious, such that local deforestation rate increases through time if adjacent locations are deforested. For the scenarios evaluated-pre- and post-PPCDAM ("Plano de Ação para Proteção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia")-the parameter estimates confirmed that forests near roads and already deforested areas are significantly more likely to be deforested in the near future and less likely in protected areas. Validation tests showed that our model correctly predicted the magnitude and spatial pattern of deforestation that accumulates over time, but that there is very high uncertainty surrounding the exact sequence in which pixels are deforested. The model predicts that under pre-PPCDAM (assuming no change in parameter values due to, for example, changes in government policy), annual deforestation rates would halve between 2050 compared to 2002, although this partly reflects reliance on a static map of the road network. Consistent with other models, under the pre-PPCDAM scenario, states in the south and east of the Brazilian Amazon have a high predicted probability of losing nearly all forest outside of protected areas by 2050. This pattern is less strong in the post-PPCDAM scenario. Contagious spread along roads and through areas lacking formal protection could allow deforestation to reach the core, which is currently

Predictive Modelling of Contagious Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Rosa, Isabel M. D.; Purves, Drew; Souza, Carlos; Ewers, Robert M.

2013-01-01

Tropical forests are diminishing in extent due primarily to the rapid expansion of agriculture, but the future magnitude and geographical distribution of future tropical deforestation is uncertain. Here, we introduce a dynamic and spatially-explicit model of deforestation that predicts the potential magnitude and spatial pattern of Amazon deforestation. Our model differs from previous models in three ways: (1) it is probabilistic and quantifies uncertainty around predictions and parameters; (2) the overall deforestation rate emerges “bottom up”, as the sum of local-scale deforestation driven by local processes; and (3) deforestation is contagious, such that local deforestation rate increases through time if adjacent locations are deforested. For the scenarios evaluated–pre- and post-PPCDAM (“Plano de Ação para Proteção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia”)–the parameter estimates confirmed that forests near roads and already deforested areas are significantly more likely to be deforested in the near future and less likely in protected areas. Validation tests showed that our model correctly predicted the magnitude and spatial pattern of deforestation that accumulates over time, but that there is very high uncertainty surrounding the exact sequence in which pixels are deforested. The model predicts that under pre-PPCDAM (assuming no change in parameter values due to, for example, changes in government policy), annual deforestation rates would halve between 2050 compared to 2002, although this partly reflects reliance on a static map of the road network. Consistent with other models, under the pre-PPCDAM scenario, states in the south and east of the Brazilian Amazon have a high predicted probability of losing nearly all forest outside of protected areas by 2050. This pattern is less strong in the post-PPCDAM scenario. Contagious spread along roads and through areas lacking formal protection could allow deforestation to reach the core, which is

Contagious diseases in competitive sport: what are the risks?

PubMed

Dorman, J M

2000-11-01

Great concern is often expressed over the possibility of contagion among athletes in competitive sports, particularly sports with much person-to-person contact. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is only the most notorious of infectious agents; potentially, other viruses, bacteria, and even fungi may be involved. Because of the concern, however, special attention is paid to HIV and hepatitis B infections. For most of the infections considered, the athlete is more at risk during activities off the playing field than while competing. Inclusion of immunizations against measles and hepatitis B among prematriculation immunization requirements (PIRs) for colleges and universities would eliminate these two diseases from the list of dangers to college athletes and all students. Education, rather than regulations, should remain the cornerstone in considering the risks to athletes from contagious diseases.

Multi Criteria Decision Making to evaluate control strategies of contagious animal diseases.

PubMed

Mourits, M C M; van Asseldonk, M A P M; Huirne, R B M

2010-09-01

The decision on which strategy to use in the control of contagious animal diseases involves complex trade-offs between multiple objectives. This paper describes a Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) application to illustrate its potential support to policy makers in choosing the control strategy that best meets all of the conflicting interests. The presented application focused on the evaluation of alternative strategies to control Classical Swine Fever (CSF) epidemics within the European Union (EU) according to the preferences of the European Chief Veterinary Officers (CVO). The performed analysis was centred on the three high-level objectives of epidemiology, economics and social ethics. The appraised control alternatives consisted of the EU compulsory control strategy, a pre-emptive slaughter strategy, a protective vaccination strategy and a suppressive vaccination strategy. Using averaged preference weights of the elicited CVOs, the preference ranking of the control alternatives was determined for six EU regions. The obtained results emphasized the need for EU region-specific control. Individual CVOs differed in their views on the relative importance of the various (sub)criteria by which the performance of the alternatives were judged. Nevertheless, the individual rankings of the control alternatives within a region appeared surprisingly similar. Based on the results of the described application it was concluded that the structuring feature of the MCDM technique provides a suitable tool in assisting the complex decision making process of controlling contagious animal diseases. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contagious yawning, social cognition, and arousal: an investigation of the processes underlying shelter dogs' responses to human yawns.

PubMed

Buttner, Alicia Phillips; Strasser, Rosemary

2014-01-01

Studies of contagious yawning have reported inconsistent findings regarding whether dogs exhibit this behavior and whether it is mediated by social-cognitive processes or the result of physiological arousal. We investigated why some dogs yawn in response to human yawns; particularly, whether these dogs are exceptional in their ability to understand human social cues or whether they were more physiologically aroused. Sixty shelter dogs were exposed to yawning and nonyawning control stimuli demonstrated by an unfamiliar human. We took salivary cortisol samples before and after testing to determine the role of arousal in yawn contagion. Dogs were tested on the object-choice task to assess their sensitivity for interpreting human social cues. We found that 12 dogs yawned only in response to human yawns (i.e., appeared to exhibit yawn contagion), though contagious yawning at the population level was not observed. Dogs that exhibited yawn contagion did not perform better on the object-choice task than other dogs, but their cortisol levels remained elevated after exposure to human yawning, whereas other dogs had reduced cortisol levels following yawning stimuli relative to their baseline levels. We interpret these findings as showing that human yawning, when presented in a stressful context, can further influence arousal in dogs, which then causes some to yawn. Although the precise social-cognitive mechanisms that underlie contagious yawning in dogs are still unclear, yawning between humans and dogs may involve some communicative function that is modulated by context and arousal.

Isolation of the contagious equine metritis organism from colts and fillies in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

PubMed

Timoney, P J; Powell, D G

1982-11-20

Between January 1978 and August 1982 the streptomycin resistant strain of the contagious equine metritis organism (CEMO) was isolated from 15 colts and two fillies in the United Kingdom and Ireland. A first season stallion was also suspected of having initiated an outbreak of contagious equine metritis (CEM) at the beginning of the 1982 breeding season. A detailed investigation of the breeding history of the dams and sires of each positive individual indicated that in a number of cases the CEMO was acquired either in utero or following transmission at the time of parturition. In several other cases the retrospective evidence suggested that the genital tract of colt foals became contaminated with vaginal discharge from mares showing clinical signs of the disease during the nursing period. The findings emphasise the need for a thorough examination of the genital tract of colts and fillies as recommended in the code of practice for the control of CEM when they begin their breeding career.

Characterization of GM-CSF-inhibitory factor and Uracil DNA glycosylase encoding genes from camel pseudocowpoxvirus.

PubMed

Nagarajan, G; Swami, Shelesh Kumar; Dahiya, Shyam Singh; Narnaware, S D; Mehta, S C; Singh, P K; Singh, Raghvendar; Tuteja, F C; Patil, N V

2015-06-01

The present study describes the PCR amplification of GM-CSF-inhibitory factor (GIF) and Uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) encoding genes of pseudocowpoxvirus (PCPV) from the Indian Dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius) infected with contagious ecthyma using the primers based on the corresponding gene sequences of human PCPV and reindeer PCPV, respectively. The length of GIF gene of PCPV obtained from camel is 795 bp and due to the addition of one cytosine residue at position 374 and one adenine residue at position 516, the open reading frame (ORF) got altered, resulting in the production of truncated polypeptide. The ORF of UDG encoding gene of camel PCPV is 696 bp encoding a polypeptide of 26.0 kDa. Comparison of amino acid sequence homologies of GIF and UDG of camel PCPV revealed that the camel PCPV is closer to ORFV and PCPV (reference stains of both human and reindeer), respectively. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A rational approach to estimating the surgical demand elasticity needed to guide manpower reallocation during contagious outbreaks.

PubMed

Tsao, Hsiao-Mei; Sun, Ying-Chou; Liou, Der-Ming

2015-01-01

Emerging infectious diseases continue to pose serious threats to global public health. So far, however, few published study has addressed the need for manpower reallocation needed in hospitals when such a serious contagious outbreak occurs. To quantify the demand elasticity of the major surgery types in order to guide future manpower reallocation during contagious outbreaks. Based on a nationwide research database in Taiwan, we extracted the monthly volumes of major surgery types for the period 1998-2003, which covered the SARS period, in order to carry out a time series analysis. The demand elasticity of each surgery type was then estimated by autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) analysis. During the study period, the surgical volumes of most selected surgery types either increased or remained steady. We categorized these surgery types into low-, moderate- and high-elastic groups according to their demand elasticity. Appendectomy, 'open reduction of fracture with internal fixation' and 'free skin graft' were in the low demand elasticity group. Transurethral prostatectomy and extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) were in the high demand elasticity group. The manpower of the departments carrying out the surgeries with low demand elasticity should be maintained during outbreaks. In contrast, departments in charge of surgeries mainly with high demand elasticity, like urology departments, may be in a position to have part of their staff reallocated. Taking advantage of the demand variation during the SARS period in 2003, we adopted the concept of demand elasticity and used a time series approach to figure out an effective index of demand elasticity for various types of surgery that could be used as a rational reference to carry out manpower reallocation during contagious outbreak situations.

Contagious error sources would need time travel to prevent quantum computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalai, Gil; Kuperberg, Greg

2015-08-01

We consider an error model for quantum computing that consists of "contagious quantum germs" that can infect every output qubit when at least one input qubit is infected. Once a germ actively causes error, it continues to cause error indefinitely for every qubit it infects, with arbitrary quantum entanglement and correlation. Although this error model looks much worse than quasi-independent error, we show that it reduces to quasi-independent error with the technique of quantum teleportation. The construction, which was previously described by Knill, is that every quantum circuit can be converted to a mixed circuit with bounded quantum depth. We also consider the restriction of bounded quantum depth from the point of view of quantum complexity classes.

A Rational Approach to Estimating the Surgical Demand Elasticity Needed to Guide Manpower Reallocation during Contagious Outbreaks

PubMed Central

Tsao, Hsiao-Mei; Sun, Ying-Chou; Liou, Der-Ming

2015-01-01

Background Emerging infectious diseases continue to pose serious threats to global public health. So far, however, few published study has addressed the need for manpower reallocation needed in hospitals when such a serious contagious outbreak occurs. Aim To quantify the demand elasticity of the major surgery types in order to guide future manpower reallocation during contagious outbreaks. Materials and Methods Based on a nationwide research database in Taiwan, we extracted the monthly volumes of major surgery types for the period 1998–2003, which covered the SARS period, in order to carry out a time series analysis. The demand elasticity of each surgery type was then estimated by autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) analysis. Results During the study period, the surgical volumes of most selected surgery types either increased or remained steady. We categorized these surgery types into low-, moderate- and high-elastic groups according to their demand elasticity. Appendectomy, ‘open reduction of fracture with internal fixation’ and ‘free skin graft’ were in the low demand elasticity group. Transurethral prostatectomy and extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) were in the high demand elasticity group. The manpower of the departments carrying out the surgeries with low demand elasticity should be maintained during outbreaks. In contrast, departments in charge of surgeries mainly with high demand elasticity, like urology departments, may be in a position to have part of their staff reallocated. Conclusions Taking advantage of the demand variation during the SARS period in 2003, we adopted the concept of demand elasticity and used a time series approach to figure out an effective index of demand elasticity for various types of surgery that could be used as a rational reference to carry out manpower reallocation during contagious outbreak situations. PMID:25837596

Benefits of lethal pandemics: direct impact of contagious diseases on public administration in Hungary (1867-1914).

PubMed

Palvolgyi, Balazs

2013-01-01

The reconciliation of 1867 between Austria and Hungary brought great changes to Hungarian public administration: the way towards the building up of a modern public administration had been opened. Although there was a functioning public health system and a related legislation from the late 18th century, major issues - such as balanced geographical distribution of medical personnel, fair access to medical services even in the poorer regions of the country, and the effective protection against some contagious diseases - were not resolved for decades. During the reform work of public administration since the 1870s, the lawmakers touched repeatedly the framework and functioning of the public health as well. Although the general conditions of the domain depended traditionally on the municipalities and counties due to the national importance of the matter, the government made efforts to make the functioning of the public health more efficient through centralisation. The contagious diseases continuously endangered the population, revealing the weak points in the existing public health system, thereby giving a momentum to the reforms and helping the government in its organization of prevention and clearly contributing to the legislation work.

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis: an emerging disease.

PubMed

Duncan, J S; Angell, J W; Carter, S D; Evans, N J; Sullivan, L E; Grove-White, D H

2014-09-01

The novel sheep disease, contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) was first described in the UK in 1997. The disease is characterised by severe lameness associated with initial inflammation at the coronary band, followed by progressive separation of the hoof capsule from the underlying tissue. On microbiological examination, treponeme bacteria have been frequently isolated from cases of CODD, including treponemes phylogenetically identical to those associated with bovine digital dermatitis (BDD). Dichelobacter nodosus and Fusobacterium necrophorum have also been isolated from CODD lesions although their role in the pathogenesis remains uncertain. While epidemiological data indicate that the prevalence of CODD is increasing in the UK, the routes of transmission and associated risk factors have not been clearly elucidated. Evidenced-based treatment trials indicate that parenteral administration of long-acting amoxicillin is an efficacious treatment for CODD, while anecdotal evidence suggests other antibiotics, given locally and/or parenterally, may also be beneficial. Further microbiological and epidemiological research is urgently required to develop sustainable control strategies, including the development of vaccines and appropriate biosecurity and farm management protocols. In this review current knowledge of the clinical, aetiological, and epidemiological aspects of CODD is assessed as well as approaches to its control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A synergism of plagues: "planned shrinkage," contagious housing destruction, and AIDS in the Bronx.

PubMed

Wallace, R

1988-10-01

Techniques adapted from population and community ecology, quantitative geography, and epidemiology are applied to ecosystem and environmental index data on the Bronx in an attempt to understand the origins and potential impacts of rampant spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its sequelae of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in that borough: Recent work by Drucker and Vermund (1987), ("Estimating Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Urban Areas with High Rates of Intravenous Drug Abuse: A Model of the Bronx in 1987," Poster presented at the Third International Conference on AIDS, June 2, 1987) estimates HIV seroprevalence levels of from 8 to 21% among men of age 25-44 in the south Bronx, at this writing, comparable to the cities of Central Africa. It is found that the "South Bronx" process of fulminating, contagious urban decay which devastated the region in the 1970s, and its associated forced population migrations, spread intravenous drug abuse, the principal HIV vector in the Bronx, from a geographically contained center in the South-Central Bronx to a virtually borough-wide phenomenon. This has significantly complicated attempts to contain HIV infection, both by shredding the social networks which are the natural vehicles for education, and by vastly enlarging the area requiring intensive targeting. Since the "planned shrinkage" municipal service cuts which triggered the "South Bronx" burnout persist, and since levels of housing overcrowding now approach those of the early 1970s in the Bronx, it is expected that a new outbreak of contagious urban decay will occur, likely again dispersing population and seriously compromising any in-place HIV control strategies. If overt AIDS itself becomes a contributor to urban deterioration in overcrowded neighborhoods susceptible to "South Bronx" process, we could then see a nonlinear ecosystem coupling between AIDS, contagious urban decay, and population shift. Elementary mathematical

What Do Children Learn about Biology from Factual Information? A Comparison of Interventions to Improve Understanding of Contagious Illnesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myant, Katherine A.; Williams, Joanne M.

2008-01-01

Background: Children have been shown to hold misconceptions about illness, and previous work has indicated that their knowledge can be improved through the use of interventions. Aims: This study aims to evaluate interventions based on the provision of factual information for improving understanding of contagious illness. Sample: The participants…

Discrete dynamics of contagious social diseases: Example of obesity

PubMed Central

Demongeot, J; Hansen, O; Taramasco, C

2016-01-01

Abstract Modeling contagious diseases needs to incorporate information about social networks through which the disease spreads as well as data about demographic and genetic changes in the susceptible population. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework (conceptualization and formalization) which seeks to model obesity as a process of transformation of one's own body determined by individual (physical and psychological), inter-individual (relational, i.e., relative to the relationship between the individual and others) and socio-cultural (environmental, i.e., relative to the relationship between the individual and his milieu) factors. Individual and inter-individual factors are tied to each other in a socio-cultural context whose impact is notably related to the visibility of anybody being exposed on the public stage in a non-contingent way. The question we are dealing with in this article is whether such kind of social diseases, i.e., depending upon socio-environmental exposure, can be considered as “contagious”. In other words, can obesity be propagated from individual to individual or from environmental sources throughout an entire population? PMID:26375495

Assessing the In Vitro Effectiveness of Antimicrobials against Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small-Colony Type To Reduce Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia Infection

PubMed Central

Ayling, R. D.; Bisgaard-Frantzen, S.; March, J. B.; Godinho, K.; Nicholas, R. A. J.

2005-01-01

In vitro minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined for 21 antimicrobials against 41 isolates of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small-colony type, the cause of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia. Of the antimicrobials used most widely in Africa, oxytetracycline and tilmicosin were effective, while the isolates were resistant to tylosin. These results provide a baseline for monitoring antimicrobial resistance. PMID:16304194

Nintendo Wii Fit-Based Sleepiness Testing is Not Impaired by Contagious Sleepiness.

PubMed

Tietäväinen, Aino; Kuvaldina, Maria; Hæggström, Edward

2018-06-01

Sleep deprivation may cause accidents, and it has deteriorating effects on health. A measurement of postural steadiness by a portable and affordable Nintendo Wii Fit balance board can be used to quantify a person's alertness. At work, people are under the influence of their environment-often other people-that may affect their alertness. This work investigates whether sleep deprivation among people is "contagious," as quantified by sway measures. We measured 21 volunteers' postural steadiness while alert and sleep deprived. During the measurements, a screen placed in front of the participants showed a footage of either alert or sleep-deprived faces. We found a significant difference between the day time and night time steadiness, but found no effect resulting from watching footage of sleep-deprived people. This finding shows that a posturographic sleepiness tester quantifies physiological sleep deprivation, and is insensitive to the influence of social factors.

Demodex gatoi -associated contagious pruritic dermatosis in cats - a report from six households in Finland

PubMed Central

Saari, Seppo AM; Juuti, Kirsi H; Palojärvi, Joanna H; Väisänen, Kirsi M; Rajaniemi, Riitta-Liisa; Saijonmaa-Koulumies, Leena E

2009-01-01

Background Demodex gatoi is unique among demodectic mites. It possesses a distinct stubby appearance, and, instead of residing in the hair follicles, it dwells in the keratin layer of the epidermis, causing a pruritic and contagious skin disease in cats. Little is known of the occurrence of D. gatoi in Europe or control of D. gatoi infestation. Case presentation We describe D. gatoi in 10 cats, including five Cornish Rex, two Burmese, one Exotic, one Persian and one Siamese, living in six multi-cat households in different locations in Finland containing 21 cats in total. Intense pruritus was the main clinical sign. Scaling, broken hairs, alopecia and self-inflicted excoriations were also observed. Diagnosis was based on finding typical short-bodied demodectic mites in skin scrapings, skin biopsies or on tape strips. Other pruritic skin diseases, such as allergies and dermatophytoses, were ruled out. In one household, despite finding several mites on one cat, all six cats of the household remained symptomless. Amitraz used weekly at a concentration of 125-250 ppm for 2-3 months, proved successful in three households, 2% lime sulphur weekly dips applied for six weeks in one household and peroral ivermectin (1 mg every other day for 10 weeks) in one household. Previous trials in four households with imidacloprid-moxidectin, selamectin or injected ivermectin given once or twice a month appeared ineffective. Conclusion D. gatoi-associated dermatitis is an emerging contagious skin disease in cats in Finland. Although pruritus is common, some cats may harbour the mites without clinical signs. In addition, due to translucency of the mites and fastidious feline grooming habits, the diagnosis may be challenging. An effective and convenient way to treat D. gatoi infestations has yet to emerge. PMID:19843334

Spatial contagiousness of canopy disturbance in tropical rain forest: an individual-tree-based test.

PubMed

Jansen, Patrick A; van der Meer, Peter J; Bongers, Frans

2008-12-01

Spatial contagiousness of canopy dynamics-the tendency of canopy disturbances to occur nearby existing canopy openings due to an elevated risk of tree fall around gaps-has been demonstrated in many temperate-zone forests, but only inferentially for tropical forests. Hypothesized mechanisms increasing the risk of tree fall around tropical forest gaps are (1) increased tree exposure to wind around gaps, (2) reduced stability of trees alongside gaps due to crown asymmetry, or (3) reduced tree health around gaps due to damage from prior disturbances. One hypothesized consequence of elevated disturbance levels around gaps would be that gap-edge zones offer relatively favorable prospects for seedling recruitment, growth, and survival. We tested whether disturbance levels are indeed elevated around natural canopy gaps in a neotropical rain forest in French Guiana, and more so as gaps are larger. We followed the fate of 5660 trees >10 cm stem diameter over five years across 12 ha of old-growth forest and analyzed the risk and magnitude of canopy disturbance events in relation to tree diameter and the proximity and size of natural canopy gaps. We found that the cumulative incidence of disturbance over the five-year survey was not significantly elevated around preexisting gaps, and only weakly related to gap size. Also, neither the risk nor the magnitude of canopy disturbances increased significantly with the proximity of gaps. Moreover, canopy disturbance risk around gaps was independent of gap size, while the magnitude of disturbance events around gaps was weakly related to gap size. Tree size was the major driver of disturbance risk as well as magnitude. We did find an elevated incidence of disturbance inside preexisting gaps, but this "repeat disturbance" was due to an elevated disturbance risk inside gaps, not around gaps. Overall, we found no strong evidence for canopy dynamics in this rain forest being spatially contagious. Our findings are consistent with the

Common bacterial skin infections.

PubMed

Trent, J T; Federman, D; Kirsner, R S

2001-08-01

Skin infections account for a significant portion of dermatologic disease, often resulting in or as a consequence of a disruption in the skin's integrity. This article covers the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of the more common bacterial infections. The infections presented herein include impetigo, ecthyma, folliculitis, carbuncles/furuncles, cellulitis, toxic shock syndrome, and ecthyma gangrenosum. Once a diagnosis is made, treatment is based on the culture and antibiotic sensitivities of the offending organisms.

The Contagious Spread of Violence Among US Adolescents Through Social Networks.

PubMed

Bond, Robert M; Bushman, Brad J

2017-02-01

To test the hypothesis that violence among US adolescents spreads like a contagious disease through social networks. Participants were a nationally representative sample of 90 118 US students aged 12 to 18 years who were involved in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Violence was assessed by having participants report the number of times in the preceding 12 months they had been involved in a serious physical fight, had hurt someone badly, and had pulled a weapon on someone. Participants were 48% more likely to have been involved in a serious fight, 183% more likely to have hurt someone badly, and 140% more likely to have pulled a weapon on someone if a friend had engaged in the same behavior. The influence spread up to 4 degrees of separation (i.e., friend of friend of friend of friend) for serious fights, 2 degrees for hurting someone badly, and 3 degrees for pulling a weapon on someone. Adolescents were more likely to engage in violent behavior if their friends did the same, and contagion of violence extended beyond immediate friends to friends of friends.

Genetic Control of Contagious Asexuality in the Pea Aphid

PubMed Central

Jaquiéry, Julie; Stoeckel, Solenn; Larose, Chloé; Nouhaud, Pierre; Rispe, Claude; Mieuzet, Lucie; Bonhomme, Joël; Mahéo, Frédérique; Legeai, Fabrice; Gauthier, Jean-Pierre; Prunier-Leterme, Nathalie; Tagu, Denis; Simon, Jean-Christophe

2014-01-01

Although evolutionary transitions from sexual to asexual reproduction are frequent in eukaryotes, the genetic bases of such shifts toward asexuality remain largely unknown. We addressed this issue in an aphid species where both sexual and obligate asexual lineages coexist in natural populations. These sexual and asexual lineages may occasionally interbreed because some asexual lineages maintain a residual production of males potentially able to mate with the females produced by sexual lineages. Hence, this species is an ideal model to study the genetic basis of the loss of sexual reproduction with quantitative genetic and population genomic approaches. Our analysis of the co-segregation of ∼300 molecular markers and reproductive phenotype in experimental crosses pinpointed an X-linked region controlling obligate asexuality, this state of character being recessive. A population genetic analysis (>400-marker genome scan) on wild sexual and asexual genotypes from geographically distant populations under divergent selection for reproductive strategies detected a strong signature of divergent selection in the genomic region identified by the experimental crosses. These population genetic data confirm the implication of the candidate region in the control of reproductive mode in wild populations originating from 700 km apart. Patterns of genetic differentiation along chromosomes suggest bidirectional gene flow between populations with distinct reproductive modes, supporting contagious asexuality as a prevailing route to permanent parthenogenesis in pea aphids. This genetic system provides new insights into the mechanisms of coexistence of sexual and asexual aphid lineages. PMID:25473828

Effects of emotionally contagious films on changes in hemisphere-specific cognitive performance.

PubMed

Papousek, Ilona; Schulter, Günter; Lang, Brigitte

2009-08-01

In the framework of models on the lateralized involvement of the cortical hemispheres in affect and psychopathology, the authors examined whether cognitive processes associated with the left and the right prefrontal cortex varied as a function of valence, motivational direction, or intensity of induced mood. Affective states (cheerfulness, anxiety, sadness, anger, and neutral mood) were experimentally induced by short "emotionally contagious films." Findings confirmed that the newly developed films were suitable to effectively elicit the expected affective states and to differentially change the dimensions of interest. Changes in verbal versus figural fluency performance were examined as a function of positive versus negative valence, approach versus withdrawal motivation, and low versus high emotional arousal. Level of interest was evaluated as a control. Both the tendency to withdraw and emotional arousal seemed to produce relative advantages for cognitive processes that are more strongly represented in the right than left prefrontal cortex. Findings suggest that changes in cognitive performance might be best explained by an additive combination of motivational direction and arousal. 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Prevalence of contagious mastitis pathogens in bulk tank milk in Québec

PubMed Central

Francoz, David; Bergeron, Luc; Nadeau, Marie; Beauchamp, Guy

2012-01-01

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of mycoplasma, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus agalactiae in bulk tank milk (BTM) in Québec dairy herds. BTM was sampled 3 times a month in 117 randomly selected dairy herds. Samples were submitted for S. aureus, S. agalactiae, and mycoplasma and for direct mycoplasma detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Mycoplasma spp. was identified at least once in 3 herds (2.6%) by primary culture and/or PCR and in 4 herds (3.4%) by enrichment culture and/or PCR. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated at least once in 99 (84.6%) and 112 (95.7%) herds in primary culture and after enrichment, respectively. Streptococcus agalactiae was isolated at least once in 9 (7.7%) and 10 (8.6%) herds in primary culture and after enrichment, respectively. Herd prevalence of mycoplasma was similar to that previously reported in Canada. Staphylococcus aureus is still by far the most important contagious mastitis pathogen. PMID:23543925

The Creation of a Contagious H5N1 Influenza Virus: Implications for the Education of Life Scientists

PubMed Central

Novossiolova, Tatyana; Minehata, Masamichi; Dando, Malcolm

2012-01-01

The paper contends that the ongoing controversy surrounding the creation of a contagious H5N1 influenza virus has already exposed the severe limitations of the possibility of preventing the hostile misuse of the life sciences by dint of oversight of proposals and publications. It further argues that in order to prevent the potential wholesale militarisation of the life sciences, it is essential that life scientists become aware of their responsibilities within the context of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and actively contribute their expertise to strengthening the biological weapons non-proliferation regime . PMID:22984642

Hitting Is Contagious in Baseball: Evidence from Long Hitting Streaks

PubMed Central

Bock, Joel R.; Maewal, Akhilesh; Gough, David A.

2012-01-01

Data analysis is used to test the hypothesis that “hitting is contagious”. A statistical model is described to study the effect of a hot hitter upon his teammates’ batting during a consecutive game hitting streak. Box score data for entire seasons comprising streaks of length games, including a total observations were compiled. Treatment and control sample groups () were constructed from core lineups of players on the streaking batter’s team. The percentile method bootstrap was used to calculate confidence intervals for statistics representing differences in the mean distributions of two batting statistics between groups. Batters in the treatment group (hot streak active) showed statistically significant improvements in hitting performance, as compared against the control. Mean for the treatment group was found to be to percentage points higher during hot streaks (mean difference increased points), while the batting heat index introduced here was observed to increase by points. For each performance statistic, the null hypothesis was rejected at the significance level. We conclude that the evidence suggests the potential existence of a “statistical contagion effect”. Psychological mechanisms essential to the empirical results are suggested, as several studies from the scientific literature lend credence to contagious phenomena in sports. Causal inference from these results is difficult, but we suggest and discuss several latent variables that may contribute to the observed results, and offer possible directions for future research. PMID:23251507

Reversible epigenetic down-regulation of MHC molecules by devil facial tumour disease illustrates immune escape by a contagious cancer

PubMed Central

Siddle, Hannah V.; Kreiss, Alexandre; Tovar, Cesar; Yuen, Chun Kit; Cheng, Yuanyuan; Belov, Katherine; Swift, Kate; Pearse, Anne-Maree; Hamede, Rodrigo; Jones, Menna E.; Skjødt, Karsten; Woods, Gregory M.; Kaufman, Jim

2013-01-01

Contagious cancers that pass between individuals as an infectious cell line are highly unusual pathogens. Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) is one such contagious cancer that emerged 16 y ago and is driving the Tasmanian devil to extinction. As both a pathogen and an allograft, DFTD cells should be rejected by the host–immune response, yet DFTD causes 100% mortality among infected devils with no apparent rejection of tumor cells. Why DFTD cells are not rejected has been a question of considerable confusion. Here, we show that DFTD cells do not express cell surface MHC molecules in vitro or in vivo, due to down-regulation of genes essential to the antigen-processing pathway, such as β2-microglobulin and transporters associated with antigen processing. Loss of gene expression is not due to structural mutations, but to regulatory changes including epigenetic deacetylation of histones. Consequently, MHC class I molecules can be restored to the surface of DFTD cells in vitro by using recombinant devil IFN-γ, which is associated with up-regulation of the MHC class II transactivator, a key transcription factor with deacetylase activity. Further, expression of MHC class I molecules by DFTD cells can occur in vivo during lymphocyte infiltration. These results explain why T cells do not target DFTD cells. We propose that MHC-positive or epigenetically modified DFTD cells may provide a vaccine to DFTD. In addition, we suggest that down-regulation of MHC molecules using regulatory mechanisms allows evolvability of transmissible cancers and could affect the evolutionary trajectory of DFTD. PMID:23479617

Quantitative risk assessment of entry of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia through live cattle imported from northwestern Ethiopia.

PubMed

Woube, Yilkal Asfaw; Dibaba, Asseged Bogale; Tameru, Berhanu; Fite, Richard; Nganwa, David; Robnett, Vinaida; Demisse, Amsalu; Habtemariam, Tsegaye

2015-11-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a highly contagious bacterial disease of cattle caused by Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides small colony (SC) bovine biotype (MmmSC). It has been eradicated from many countries; however, the disease persists in many parts of Africa and Asia. CBPP is one of the major trade-restricting diseases of cattle in Ethiopia. In this quantitative risk assessment the OIE concept of zoning was adopted to assess the entry of CBPP into an importing country when up to 280,000 live cattle are exported every year from the northwestern proposed disease free zone (DFZ) of Ethiopia. To estimate the level of risk, a six-tiered risk pathway (scenario tree) was developed, evidences collected and equations generated. The probability of occurrence of the hazard at each node was modelled as a probability distribution using Monte Carlo simulation (@RISK software) at 10,000 iterations to account for uncertainty and variability. The uncertainty and variability of data points surrounding the risk estimate were further quantified by sensitivity analysis. In this study a single animal destined for export from the northwestern DFZ of Ethiopia has a CBPP infection probability of 4.76×10(-6) (95% CI=7.25×10(-8) 1.92×10(-5)). The probability that at least one infected animal enters an importing country in one year is 0.53 (90% CI=0.042-0.97). The expected number of CBPP infected animals exported any given year is 1.28 (95% CI=0.021-5.42). According to the risk estimate, an average of 2.73×10(6) animals (90% CI=10,674-5.9×10(6)) must be exported to get the first infected case. By this account it would, on average, take 10.15 years (90% CI=0.24-23.18) for the first infected animal to be included in the consignment. Sensitivity analysis revealed that prevalence and vaccination had the highest impact on the uncertainty and variability of the overall risk. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of "Pink Eye" Label on Parents' Intent to Use Antibiotics and Perceived Contagiousness.

PubMed

Scherer, Laura D; Finan, Caitlin; Simancek, Dalton; Finkelstein, Jerome I; Tarini, Beth A

2016-06-01

Parents of children who presented for a pediatrics appointment responded to a clinical vignette that described a child with symptoms consistent with acute viral conjunctivitis. In a 2 × 2 randomized survey design, the physician in the vignette either used the term "pink eye" or "eye infection" to describe the symptoms, and either told parents that antibiotics are likely ineffective at treating the symptoms or did not discuss effectiveness. When the symptoms were referred to as "pink eye," parents remained interested in antibiotics, despite being informed about their ineffectiveness. By contrast, when the symptoms were referred to as an "eye infection," information about antibiotic ineffectiveness significantly reduced interest, Mdiff = 1.63, P < .001. Parents who received the "pink eye" label also thought that the symptoms were more contagious and were less likely to believe that their child could go to child care, compared with parents who received the "eye infection" label, Mdiff = 0.37, P = .38. © The Author(s) 2015.

Social Network Sensors for Early Detection of Contagious Outbreaks

PubMed Central

Christakis, Nicholas A.; Fowler, James H.

2010-01-01

Current methods for the detection of contagious outbreaks give contemporaneous information about the course of an epidemic at best. It is known that individuals near the center of a social network are likely to be infected sooner during the course of an outbreak, on average, than those at the periphery. Unfortunately, mapping a whole network to identify central individuals who might be monitored for infection is typically very difficult. We propose an alternative strategy that does not require ascertainment of global network structure, namely, simply monitoring the friends of randomly selected individuals. Such individuals are known to be more central. To evaluate whether such a friend group could indeed provide early detection, we studied a flu outbreak at Harvard College in late 2009. We followed 744 students who were either members of a group of randomly chosen individuals or a group of their friends. Based on clinical diagnoses, the progression of the epidemic in the friend group occurred 13.9 days (95% C.I. 9.9–16.6) in advance of the randomly chosen group (i.e., the population as a whole). The friend group also showed a significant lead time (p<0.05) on day 16 of the epidemic, a full 46 days before the peak in daily incidence in the population as a whole. This sensor method could provide significant additional time to react to epidemics in small or large populations under surveillance. The amount of lead time will depend on features of the outbreak and the network at hand. The method could in principle be generalized to other biological, psychological, informational, or behavioral contagions that spread in networks. PMID:20856792

Virulence Genes of S. aureus from Dairy Cow Mastitis and Contagiousness Risk.

PubMed

Magro, Giada; Biffani, Stefano; Minozzi, Giulietta; Ehricht, Ralf; Monecke, Stefan; Luini, Mario; Piccinini, Renata

2017-06-21

Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) is a major agent of dairy cow intramammary infections: the different prevalences of mastitis reported might be related to a combination of S. aureus virulence factors beyond host factors. The present study considered 169 isolates from different Italian dairy herds that were classified into four groups based on the prevalence of S. aureus infection at the first testing: low prevalence (LP), medium-low (MLP), medium-high (MHP) and high (HP). We aimed to correlate the presence of virulence genes with the prevalence of intramammary infections in order to develop new strategies for the control of S. aureus mastitis. Microarray data were statistically evaluated using binary logistic regression and correspondence analysis to screen the risk factors and the relationship between prevalence group and gene. The analysis showed: (1) 24 genes at significant risk of being detected in all the herds with infection prevalence >5%, including genes belonging to microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules (MSCRAMMs), immune evasion and serine proteases; and (2) a significant correlation coefficient between the genes interacting with the host immune response and HP isolates against LP ones. These results support the hypothesis that virulence factors, in addition to cow management, could be related to strain contagiousness, offering new insights into vaccine development.

Challenges of controlling contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in sub-Saharan Africa: a Zambian perspective.

PubMed

Muuka, Geoffrey; Songolo, Nadi; Kabilika, Swithine; Hang'ombe, Bernard M; Nalubamba, King S; Muma, John B

2013-01-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a disease of economic importance that is widely distributed in sub-Saharan African and contributes significantly to cattle morbidity and mortality. Control of CBPP offers a number of challenges as a result many developing countries in Africa are still struggling with this disease. In this study, we look at the challenges encountered in CBPP control in sub-Saharan Africa from the Zambian perspective. In conducting this study, we reviewed scientific literature and reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and related animal institutions, and also made interviews with experts and key government officials involved in CBPP control in Zambia. Among the challenges identified for the successful control of CBPP were as follows: failure in the delivery of veterinary services, lack of a cattle identification system, natural phenomenon, livestock husbandry systems in the traditional sector, human movements, traditional practices among cattle farmers and cattle marketing systems. It was seen that the epidemiology of CBPP in Zambia is influenced by both ecological and anthological factors. Therefore, design and implementation of any control or eradication programme should be area/regional-dependent taking into account the different factors influencing disease transmission and maintenance.

Contagious seed dispersal beneath heterospecific fruiting trees and its consequences.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kwit, Charles; Levey, Douglas, J.; Greenberg, Cathyrn, H.

2004-05-03

Kwit, Charles, D.J. Levey and Cathryn H. Greenberg. 2004. Contagious seed dispersal beneath heterospecific fruiting trees and its consequences. Oikos. 107:303-308 A n hypothesized advantage of seed dispersal is avoidance of high per capita mortality (i.e. density-dependent mortality) associated with dense populations of seeds and seedlings beneath parent trees. This hypothesis, inherent in nearly all seed dispersal studies, assumes that density effects are species-specific. Yet because many tree species exhibit overlapping fruiting phenologies and share dispersers, seeds may be deposited preferentially under synchronously fruiting heterospecific trees, another location where they may be particularly vulnerable to mortality, in this case bymore » generalist seed predators. We demonstrate that frugivores disperse higher densities of Cornus florida seeds under fruiting (female) I lex opaca trees than under non-fruiting (male) I lex trees in temperate hardwood forest settings in South Carolina, U SA . To determine if density of Cornus and/or I lex seeds influences survivorship of dispersed Cornus seeds, we followed the fates of experimentally dispersed Cornus seeds in neighborhoods of differing, manipulated background densities of Cornus and I lex seeds. We found that the probability of predation on dispersed Cornus seeds was a function of both Cornus and I lex background seed densities. H igher densities of I lex seeds negatively affected Cornus seed survivorship, and this was particularly evident as background densities of dispersed Cornus seeds increased. These results illustrate the importance of viewing seed dispersal and predation in a community context, as the pattern and intensity of density-dependent mortality may not be solely a function of conspecific densities.« less

Impact of degree truncation on the spread of a contagious process on networks.

PubMed

Harling, Guy; Onnela, Jukka-Pekka

2018-03-01

Understanding how person-to-person contagious processes spread through a population requires accurate information on connections between population members. However, such connectivity data, when collected via interview, is often incomplete due to partial recall, respondent fatigue or study design, e.g., fixed choice designs (FCD) truncate out-degree by limiting the number of contacts each respondent can report. Past research has shown how FCD truncation affects network properties, but its implications for predicted speed and size of spreading processes remain largely unexplored. To study the impact of degree truncation on predictions of spreading process outcomes, we generated collections of synthetic networks containing specific properties (degree distribution, degree-assortativity, clustering), and also used empirical social network data from 75 villages in Karnataka, India. We simulated FCD using various truncation thresholds and ran a susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) process on each network. We found that spreading processes propagated on truncated networks resulted in slower and smaller epidemics, with a sudden decrease in prediction accuracy at a level of truncation that varied by network type. Our results have implications beyond FCD to truncation due to any limited sampling from a larger network. We conclude that knowledge of network structure is important for understanding the accuracy of predictions of process spread on degree truncated networks.

Cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies using quantitative real-time PCR and bacterial culture to identify contagious mastitis cases in large dairy herds.

PubMed

Murai, Kiyokazu; Lehenbauer, Terry W; Champagne, John D; Glenn, Kathy; Aly, Sharif S

2014-03-01

Diagnostic strategies to detect contagious mastitis caused by Mycoplasma bovis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus agalactiae in dairy herds during an outbreak have been minimally studied with regard to cost and diagnostic sensitivity. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies for identification of infected cows in two California dairy herds during contagious mastitis outbreaks. M. bovis was investigated in a subset of a herd (n=1210 cows) with an estimated prevalence of 2.8% (95% CI=1.9, 3.7), whereas Staph. aureus and Strep. agalactiae were studied in a second herd (n=351 cows) with an estimated prevalence of 3.4% (95% CI=1.5, 5.3) and 16.8% (95% CI=12.9, 20.7), respectively. Diagnostic strategies involved a combination of testing stages that utilized bacterial culture, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), or both. Strategies were applied to individual or pooled samples of 5, 10, 50 or 100 samples. Culture was considered the gold standard for sensitivity estimation of each strategy. The reference strategy was the strategy with the lowest cost per culture-positive cow which for both M. bovis and Strep. agalactiae consisted of 2 stages, culture of samples in pools of 5 followed by culture of individual samples in positive pools with a sensitivity of 73.5% (95% CI: 55.6, 87.1) and 96.6% (95% CI: 27.7, 84.8), respectively. The reference strategy for Staph. aureus consisted of 3 stages, culture of individual samples in pools of 100 (stage 1), culture constituents of those positive from stage 1 in pools of 5 (stage 2), culture constituents of those positive from stage 2 individually (stage 3) which resulted in a sensitivity of 58.3% (95% CI: 88.3, 99.6). The most cost-effective alternative to the reference strategy was whole herd milk culture for all 3 pathogens. QPCR testing was a component of the second most cost-effective alternative for M. bovis and the third most cost-effective alternatives for

Brain Processing of Contagious Itch in Patients with Atopic Dermatitis

PubMed Central

Schut, Christina; Mochizuki, Hideki; Grossman, Shoshana K.; Lin, Andrew C.; Conklin, Christopher J.; Mohamed, Feroze B.; Gieler, Uwe; Kupfer, Joerg; Yosipovitch, Gil

2017-01-01

Several studies show that itch and scratching cannot only be induced by pruritogens like histamine or cowhage, but also by the presentation of certain (audio-) visual stimuli like pictures on crawling insects or videos showing other people scratching. This phenomenon is coined “Contagious itch” (CI). Due to the fact that CI is more profound in patients with the chronic itchy skin disease atopic dermatitis (AD), we believe that it is highly relevant to study brain processing of CI in this group. Knowledge on brain areas involved in CI in AD-patients can provide us with useful hints regarding non-invasive treatments that AD-patients could profit from when they are confronted with itch-inducing situations in daily life. Therefore, this study investigated the brain processing of CI in AD-patients. 11 AD-patients underwent fMRI scans during the presentation of an itch inducing experimental video (EV) and a non-itch inducing control video (CV). Perfusion based brain activity was measured using arterial spin labeling functional MRI. As expected, the EV compared to the CV led to an increase in itch and scratching (p < 0.05). CI led to a significant increase in brain activity in the supplementary motor area, left ventral striatum and right orbitofrontal cortex (threshold: p < 0.001; cluster size k > 50). Moreover, itch induced by watching the EV was by trend correlated with activity in memory-related regions including the temporal cortex and the (pre-) cuneus as well as the posterior operculum, a brain region involved in itch processing (threshold: p < 0.005; cluster size k > 50). These findings suggest that the fronto-striatal circuit, which is associated with the desire to scratch, might be a target region for non-invasive treatments in AD patients. PMID:28790959

Heterogeneity among Orf Virus Isolates from Goats in Fujian Province, Southern China

PubMed Central

Li, Ming; Li, Wei; Huang, Xiaohong; Wang, Shihua; Luo, Shuhong

2013-01-01

Orf virus is a parapoxvirus that causes recurring contagious ecthyma or orf disease in goat, sheep and other wild and domestic ruminants. Infected animals show signs of pustular lesions on the mouth and muzzle and develop scabs over the lesions. Although the infection is usually cleared within 1–2 months, delayed growth and associated secondary infections could still impact the herds. Orf virus can also infect humans, causing lesions similar to the animals in pathological histology. Prior infection of orf virus apparently offers little protective immunity against future infections. Several gene products of orf virus have been identified as responsible for immunomodulatory functions. In our recent study of orf virus isolates from an area along the Minjiang River in northern Fujian Province, we found a high heterogeneity among isolates from 10 farms within a 120-kilometer distance. Only two isolates from locations within 1 km to each other had same viral genes. There is no correlation between the geographical distance between the corresponding collection sites and the phylogenetic distance in ORFV011 or ORV059 genes for any two isolates. This finding suggests that there are diverse populations of orf virus present in the environment. This may in part contribute to the phenomenon of recurring outbreaks and heighten the need for better surveillance. PMID:24143166

Evolution of a contagious cancer: epigenetic variation in Devil Facial Tumour Disease

PubMed Central

Ujvari, Beata; Pearse, Anne-Maree; Peck, Sarah; Harmsen, Collette; Taylor, Robyn; Pyecroft, Stephen; Madsen, Thomas; Papenfuss, Anthony T.; Belov, Katherine

2013-01-01

The emergence of Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), a highly contagious cancer, is driving Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) to extinction. The cancer is a genetically and chromosomally stable clonal cell line which is transmitted by biting during social interactions. In the present study, we explore the Devil Facial Tumour (DFT) epigenome and the genes involved in DNA methylation homeostasis. We show that tumour cells have similar levels of methylation to peripheral nerves, the tissue from which DFTD originated. We did not observe any strain or region-specific epimutations. However, we revealed a significant increase in hypomethylation in DFT samples over time (p < 0.0001). We propose that loss of methylation is not because of a maintenance deficiency, as an upregulation of DNA methyltransferase 1 gene was observed in tumours compared with nerves (p < 0.005). Instead, we believe that loss of methylation is owing to active demethylation, supported by the temporal increase in MBD2 and MBD4 (p < 0.001). The implications of these changes on disease phenotypes need to be explored. Our work shows that DFTD should not be treated as a static entity, but rather as an evolving parasite with epigenetic plasticity. Understanding the role of epimutations in the evolution of this parasitic cancer will provide unique insights into the role of epigenetic plasticity in cancer evolution and progression in traditional cancers that arise and die with their hosts. PMID:23135679

The Committee Studying Contagious Disease Training for Public Safety Personnel. Report of the Committee on Training of the Criminal Justice Services Board to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia. House Document No. 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia State Dept. of Criminal Justice Services, Richmond.

Through discussion and extensive research, the Committee Studying Contagious Disease Training attempted to address concerns regarding education and training of public safety personnel with regard to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). The committee's findings were based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration…

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccines and control strategies: recent data.

PubMed

Thiaucourt, F; Aboubakar, Y; Wesonga, H; Manso-Silvan, L; Blanchard, A

2004-01-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia is one of the most threatening transboundary cattle disease in Africa. However, with the exception of Botswana, very few African countries were able to implement eradication strategies for this disease, after it had recently re-infected a number of countries. Previous experimental studies have shown that emergency vaccination campaigns, based on a single injection, were not inducing a sufficient protection level to prevent further spread of the disease. In addition, post-vaccinal reactions were sometimes reported in the field when using vaccine strain T1/44, leading cattle owners to refuse the vaccination. On the contrary, antibiotics are used quite often in the field but there are insufficient data to assess their efficacy properly. Therefore experimental studies were implemented: (i) to check if higher dosages of the vaccine would be able to induce higher protection rates and (ii) to elucidate the origin of the post-vaccinal reactions observed with T1/44 and (iii) to gain preliminary results on the efficacy of long-acting tetracycline. The first experiment included the use of three doses of vaccine strains T1/44 and T1sr: 10(7), 10(8) and 10(9) mycoplasmas per dose. T1/44 seemed to induce a higher protection (70%) than T1sr (60%). However, there was no observable dose effect for these vaccine strains. The second experiment was performed by injecting various MmmSC strains subcutaneously into susceptible cattle. One of these strains was an isolate obtained from a "Willems" reaction following a vaccination with T1/44. This isolate, called T1B, induced typical invading oedema at the injection site in a similar way to the pathogenic strain, whereas the original T1/44 vaccine strain did not. These findings indicate that the strain has reverted to virulence. Finally the antibiotic trials showed that long-acting tetracycline was able to reduce the losses due to the disease but could not prevent the persistence of viable MmmSC in treated

Concepts of diffusion theory and a graphic approach to the description of the epidemic flow of contagious disease.

PubMed Central

Angulo, J J; Pederneiras, C A; Ebner, W; Kimura, E M; Megale, P

1980-01-01

Concepts used to analyze sociological, geographic, and economic processes were adapted to an examination of the diffusion of contagious disease. The example used in applying these concepts was an epidemic of variola minor which continued for 12 months in an area of 1,006 square kilometers centered on the city of Bragança Paulista, Sao Paulo State (Brazil). A graphic procedure is proposed that depicts aspects of the epidemic flow of person-to-person transmission. Spatial, temporal, and sociological characteristics of the epidemic flow are disclosed in sequential diagrams. They represent geographic areas as well as schools and agglomerates of households affected by the epidemic at a given time, the mode of diffusion, and the source of the infection. The procedure yielded indirect evidence of the role of school pupils as introducers of variola minor into households and school classes. All subdivisions of the city, six of the seven rural districts, and four of the five elementary schools were affected through hierarchical (between-areas) diffusion. Subsequently, there was neighborhood (within-area) diffusion, and this resulted in new interactions between areas. PMID:7422812

First isolation of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum, one of the causal agents of caprine contagious agalactia, on the island of Lanzarote (Spain).

PubMed

De la Fe, C; Gutiérrez, A; Poveda, J B; Assunção, P; Ramírez, A S; Fabelo, F

2007-03-01

During an unusually long period of bad weather, several outbreaks of caprine contagious agalactia (CCA) were reported in a number of flocks on the island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). Clinical and subclinical mastitis in lactating goats and some cases of arthritis and pneumonia in kids were observed in the affected flocks. Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum was isolated as the main causal agent of the outbreaks, associated with M. mycoides subsp. mycoides "large colony type" (Mmm LC) in two flocks. This is the first report of an isolation of M. capricolum subsp. capricolum on the island of Lanzarote. The finding is of epidemiological importance and could complicate plans to control the disease. The significance of this mycoplasma species in association with CCA must now be studied in detail.

Analysis of immune responses to recombinant proteins from strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides, the causative agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.

PubMed

Perez-Casal, Jose; Prysliak, Tracy; Maina, Teresa; Wang, Yejun; Townsend, Hugh; Berverov, Emil; Nkando, Isabel; Wesonga, Hezron; Liljander, Anne; Jores, Joerg; Naessens, Jan; Gerdts, Volker; Potter, Andrew

2015-11-15

Current contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccines are based on live-attenuated strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm). These vaccines have shortcomings in terms of efficacy, duration of immunity and in some cases show severe side effects at the inoculation site; hence the need to develop new vaccines to combat the disease. Reverse vaccinology approaches were used and identified 66 candidate Mycoplasma proteins using available Mmm genome data. These proteins were ranked by their ability to be recognized by serum from CBPP-positive cattle and thereafter used to inoculate naïve cattle. We report here the inoculation of cattle with recombinant proteins and the subsequent humoral and T-cell-mediated immune responses to these proteins and conclude that a subset of these proteins are candidate molecules for recombinant protein-based subunit vaccines for CBPP control. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is obesity contagious by way of body image? A study on Japanese female students in the United States.

PubMed

Bagrowicz, Rinako; Watanabe, Chiho; Umezaki, Masahiro

2013-10-01

Although it has been suggested that obesity is 'contagious' within the social network, direct cause of this spread of obesity remains unclear. This study hypothesized that Body Image (BI), the perception of one's own body size, may play a role in this obesity spread, since a high prevalence of obesity could shift people's perception of 'what is normal'. Young Japanese females (n = 53) were interviewed within 1 month after moving to New York City, where the prevalence of obesity is substantially higher than that of their home country, Japan. Each participant was examined for her BI in terms of current body size (CBS) and ideal body size (IBS). They were interviewed again 2 months after the first examination. Between the two interviews, the participants' CBS was decreased (having thinner self-image), while the IBS increased (having fatter ideal-image), leading to less dissatisfaction (smaller CBS-IBS) with their body size. These results suggest that one's BI could change in a period as short as 2 months, possibly because of being surrounded by more obese people. The IBS change was positively associated with BMI change (increased by 0.4 ± 0.6 kg/m²), warranting further study on the role of BI in the spread of obesity.

Ultrasonographic findings in goats with contagious caprine pleuropneumonia caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae.

PubMed

Tharwat, Mohamed; Al-Sobayil, Fahd

2017-08-22

In goats, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is a cause of major economic losses in Africa, Asia and in the Middle East. There is no information emphasising the importance of diagnostic ultrasound in goats with CCPP caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae (Mccp). This study was designed to describe the ultrasonographic findings in goats with CCPP caused by Mccp and to correlate ultrasonographic with post-mortem findings. To this end, 55 goats with CCPP were examined. Twenty-five healthy adult goats were used as a control group. Major clinical findings included harried, painful respiration, dyspnoea and mouth breathing. On ultrasonography, a liver-like echotexture was imaged in 13 goats. Upon post-mortem examination, all 13 goats exhibited unilateral pulmonary consolidation. Seven goats had a unilateral hypoechoic pleural effusion. At necropsy, the related lung was consolidated and the pleural fluid appeared turbid and greenish. Pleural abscessiation detected in five goats was confirmed post-mortem. Twenty-eight goats had a bright, fibrinous matrix extending over the chest wall containing numerous anechoic fluid pockets with medial displacement and compression of lung tissue. Echogenic tags imaged floating in the fluid were found upon post-mortem examination to be fibrin. In two goats, a consolidated right parenchyma was imaged together with hypoechoic pericardial effusions with echogenic tags covering the epicardium. At necropsy, the right lung was consolidated in three goats and fibrin threads were found covering the epicardium and pericardium. In goats with CCPP, the extension and the severity of the pulmonary changes could not be verified with clinical certainty in most cases, whereas this was possible most of the time with sonography, thus making the prognosis easier. Ultrasonographic examination of the pleurae and the lungs helped in the detection of various lesions.

Whole-flock, metaphylactic tilmicosin failed to eliminate contagious ovine digital dermatitis and footrot in sheep: a cluster randomised trial.

PubMed

Angell, J W; Grove-White, D H; Williams, H J; Duncan, J S

2016-09-24

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical success of whole-flock systemic tilmicosin and enhanced biosecurity in eliminating active contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) from sheep flocks. Thirty flocks in the UK were randomly allocated to receive either treatment as usual (as per the farmer's normal routine) or whole-flock treatment with tilmicosin, together with isolation and extended treatment of clinically affected individuals and isolation and treatment of purchased sheep during the study period. All flocks were visited once at onset of the trial to examine all sheep. One year later, all sheep were re-examined to determine the presence/absence of clinical lesions. The primary outcome was the clinical elimination of CODD from flocks. Secondary outcomes were reduction in prevalence of CODD, clinical elimination of footrot and reduction in prevalence of footrot. The analysis included 11 control flocks and 13 intervention flocks, with initially 3460 and 4686 sheep, respectively. For CODD: at follow-up, in the intervention group, 6/13 (46 per cent) flocks had a prevalence of zero compared with 1/11 (9 per cent) in the control group (P=0.12). For footrot: at follow-up, no flocks had a prevalence of zero. Therefore, the intervention is not recommended for the elimination of CODD or footrot in the UK. British Veterinary Association.

Whole-flock, metaphylactic tilmicosin failed to eliminate contagious ovine digital dermatitis and footrot in sheep: a cluster randomised trial

PubMed Central

Angell, J. W.; Grove-White, D. H.; Williams, H. J.; Duncan, J. S.

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical success of whole-flock systemic tilmicosin and enhanced biosecurity in eliminating active contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) from sheep flocks. Thirty flocks in the UK were randomly allocated to receive either treatment as usual (as per the farmer's normal routine) or whole-flock treatment with tilmicosin, together with isolation and extended treatment of clinically affected individuals and isolation and treatment of purchased sheep during the study period. All flocks were visited once at onset of the trial to examine all sheep. One year later, all sheep were re-examined to determine the presence/absence of clinical lesions. The primary outcome was the clinical elimination of CODD from flocks. Secondary outcomes were reduction in prevalence of CODD, clinical elimination of footrot and reduction in prevalence of footrot. The analysis included 11 control flocks and 13 intervention flocks, with initially 3460 and 4686 sheep, respectively. For CODD: at follow-up, in the intervention group, 6/13 (46 per cent) flocks had a prevalence of zero compared with 1/11 (9 per cent) in the control group (P=0.12). For footrot: at follow-up, no flocks had a prevalence of zero. Therefore, the intervention is not recommended for the elimination of CODD or footrot in the UK. PMID:27450091

Effects on goat milk quality of the presence of Mycoplasma spp. in herds without symptoms of contagious agalactia.

PubMed

de la Fe, Christian; Sánchez, Antonio; Gutierrez, Aldo; Contreras, Antonio; Carlos Corrales, Juan; Assunçao, Patricia; Poveda, Carlos; Poveda, José B

2009-02-01

This study was designed to assess the possible effects of mycoplasmas on the quality of milk produced by goat herds in a contagious agalactia (CA) endemic area with absence of classical symptoms. Several factors related to milk quality (percentages of fat, total protein, lactose and total solids, standard plate counts (SPC) and presence of Staphylococcus aureus) were compared in mycoplasma-infected and non-infected herds. To define the CA status of 26 herds on the island of Lanzarote (Spain), where CA is endemic, 570 individual milk samples and 266 bulk tank milk (BTM) samples were microbiologically analysed for the presence of Mycoplasma spp. A herd was considered infected by mycoplasmas when at least a sample (individual or BTM) was positive. BTM samples were also used to determine milk quality parameters. Mycoplasma infection was confirmed in 13 herds. A total of 31, 10 and 11 strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides LC (MmmLC), Mp. agalactiae and Mp. capricolum subsp. capricolum were isolated. No significant differences were observed between the least square means of the variables fat, total protein, lactose and total solids or SPC recorded for the infected v. non-infected herds. The Staph. aureus status of a herd was also found to be independent of the presence of Mycoplasma spp. Our findings indicate that neither the presence of mycoplasmas in a goat herd with absence of classical symptoms seem to compromise the quality of the BTM.

Contagious Deposition of Seeds in Spider Monkeys' Sleeping Trees Limits Effective Seed Dispersal in Fragmented Landscapes

PubMed Central

González-Zamora, Arturo; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Escobar, Federico; Rös, Matthias; Oyama, Ken; Ibarra-Manríquez, Guillermo; Stoner, Kathryn E.; Chapman, Colin A.

2014-01-01

The repeated use of sleeping sites by frugivorous vertebrates promotes the deposition and aggregation of copious amounts of seeds in these sites. This spatially contagious pattern of seed deposition has key implications for seed dispersal, particularly because such patterns can persist through recruitment. Assessing the seed rain patterns in sleeping sites thus represents a fundamental step in understanding the spatial structure and regeneration of plant assemblages. We evaluated the seed rain produced by spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in latrines located beneath 60 sleeping trees in two continuous forest sites (CFS) and three forest fragments (FF) in the Lacandona rainforest, Mexico. We tested for differences among latrines, among sites, and between forest conditions in the abundance, diversity (α-, β- and, γ-components) and evenness of seed assemblages. We recorded 45,919 seeds ≥5 mm (in length) from 68 species. The abundance of seeds was 1.7 times higher in FF than in CFS, particularly because of the dominance of a few plant species. As a consequence, community evenness tended to be lower within FF. β-diversity of common and dominant species was two times greater among FF than between CFS. Although mean α-diversity per latrine did not differ among sites, the greater β-diversity among latrines in CFS increased γ-diversity in these sites, particularly when considering common and dominant species. Our results support the hypothesis that fruit scarcity in FF can ‘force’ spider monkeys to deplete the available fruit patches more intensively than in CFS. This feeding strategy can limit the effectiveness of spider monkeys as seed dispersers in FF, because (i) it can limit the number of seed dispersers visiting such fruit patches; (ii) it increases seed dispersal limitation; and (iii) it can contribute to the floristic homogenization (i.e., reduced β-diversity among latrines) in fragmented landscapes. PMID:24586705

DISEASE COMPLEXITY IN A DECLINING ALASKAN MUSKOX (OVIBOS MOSCHATUS) POPULATION.

PubMed

Afema, Josephine A; Beckmen, Kimberlee B; Arthur, Stephen M; Huntington, Kathy Burek; Mazet, Jonna A K

2017-04-01

The muskox ( Ovibos moschatus ) population inhabiting the eastern North Slope (ENS) of Alaska, US declined dramatically during 1999-2006, whereas populations in western Alaska (WA) were stable or increasing. To understand morbidity and mortality factors contributing to the decline, Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducted pathologic investigations of carcasses from 2005 until 2008. Additionally, archived sera from both ENS and WA muskoxen collected during 1984-92, before the documented beginning of the ENS decline; sera collected during 2000, near the beginning of the decline; and contemporary sera (from live capture-release, adult females) collected during 2006, 2007, and 2008 were analyzed to determine whether prevalence of antibody to potential pathogens differed in the two areas or changed over time. The pathogens investigated were those that were believed could cause lameness or poor reproduction or adversely affect general health. Furthermore, trace mineral levels, hemograms, and gastrointestinal parasites were evaluated in live adult females captured 2006-08. Pathologic investigations identified several comorbid conditions, including predation, polyarthritis caused by or consistent with Chlamydophila spp. infection, hoof lesions, copper deficiency, contagious ecthyma, verminous pneumonia, hepatic lipidosis suggestive of negative energy balance, and bacterial bronchopneumonia due to Trueperella pyogenes and Bibersteinia trehalosi . Pathogens suspected to be newly introduced in the ENS muskox population on the basis of serologic detection include bovine viral diarrhea, respiratory syncytial virus, Chlamydophila spp., Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetii , and Leptospira spp., whereas parainfluenza virus-3 antibody prevalence has increased in the WA population. Although multiple disease syndromes were identified that contributed to mortality and, in combination, likely limited the ENS muskox population, further holistic investigations of disease agents, trace

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections of intact skin.

PubMed

Agger, W A; Mardan, A

1995-02-01

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections of healthy skin are uncommon. We report four cases of P. aeruginosa infections of intact skin. These cases illustrate the clinical spectrum of these cutaneous infections: localized, mild epidermal infections (the green nail syndrome and webbed space infections), moderately serious infections (cutaneous folliculitis and otitis externa), and, in immunocompromised patients, extremely serious infections (malignant otitis externa, perirectal infection, and ecthyma gangrenosum).

In vitro susceptibility of contagious ovine digital dermatitis associated Treponema spp. isolates to antimicrobial agents in the UK.

PubMed

Angell, Joseph W; Clegg, Simon R; Sullivan, Leigh E; Duncan, Jennifer S; Grove-White, Dai H; Carter, Stuart D; Evans, Nicholas J

2015-12-01

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is an important cause of infectious lameness in sheep in the UK and Ireland and has a severe impact on the welfare of affected individuals. The three treponemal phylogroups Treponema medium/Treponema vincentii-like, Treponema phagedenis-like and Treponema pedis spirochaetes have been associated with clinical CODD lesions and are considered to be a necessary cause of disease. There are scant data on the antimicrobial susceptibility of the treponemes cultured from CODD lesions. The aim of this study was to determine in vitro the miniumum inhibitory concentration/ minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC/MBC) of antimicrobials used in the sheep industry for isolates of the three CODD associated treponeme phylogroups T. medium/T. vincentii-like, T. phagedenis-like and T. pedis. Twenty treponeme isolates; from 19 sheep with clinical CODD lesions. A microdilution method was used to determine in vitro the MIC/MBC of 10 antimicrobial agents for 20 treponeme isolates (five T. medium/T. vincentii-like, 10 T. phagedenis-like and five T. pedis). The antimicrobials tested were penicillin G, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, tilmicosin, lincomycin, spectinomycin, tylosin, tildipirosin, tulathromycin and gamithromycin. The treponeme isolates tested showed low MICs and MBCs to all 10 antimicrobials tested. They were most susceptible to gamithromycin and tildipirosin (MIC90: 0.0469 mg/L), and were least susceptible to lincomycin, spectinomycin and oxytetracycline (MIC90: 48 mg/L, 24 mg/L and 3 mg/L, respectively). These data are comparable to in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility data for treponemes cultured from bovine digital dermatitis lesions. Dependent on local licensing, penicillin and tilmicosin appear to be the best candidates for future in vivo studies. © 2015 The Authors. Veterinary Dermatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the ESVD and ACVD.

Risk factors associated with contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia in goats in pastoral areas in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.

PubMed

Kipronoh, K A; Ombui, J N; Binepal, Y S; Wesonga, H O; Gitonga, E K; Thuranira, E; Kiara, H K

2016-09-15

A cross-sectional study to determine risk factors associated with sero-prevalence of contagious caprine pleuro-pneumonia (CCPP) in goats was carried out between the months of March, 2014 and March, 2015 in Pokot East, Turkana West and Kajiado Central Sub-counties. A semi-structured questionnaire focusing on risk factors for CCPP was completed for each flock whose serum samples were collected. A logistic regression model was developed to assess the association between the risk factors and CCPP sero-positivity. Of the 54 flocks, 49 (90.7%) presented at least one sero-positive animal. Two hundred and four of the 432 goats tested sero-positive at monoclonal antibody based competitive Enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (c-ELISA), hence a sero-prevalence of 47.2% (95% CI=42.5- 51.9). Previous exposure of flocks to CCPP (p<0.001, OR=52.8; CI=6.45, 432), distant sources of veterinary drugs (p<0.001, OR=6.17; CI=3.41, 11.1), movement of goats to dry season feeding areas (p<0.001, OR=4.31; CI=2.39, 7.75) and markets as a source of new introductions to the flock (p=0.033, OR=1.86; CI=1.05, 3.27) were identified as risk factors significantly associated with CCPP sero-prevalence. The findings provide further evidence supporting the high prevalence and endemic state of the disease in pastoral flocks and hence there is need for adequate measures to be put in place to control the disease effectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pasteurella multocida ecthyma complicated by necrotizing fasciitis.

PubMed

Milani-Nejad, Nima; Tyler, Kelly; Grieco, Carmine A; Kaffenberger, Benjamin H

2017-04-15

Necrotizing fasciitis is a serious infection of the skin and soft tissues. Pasteurella multocida is rarely reported to cause necrotizing fasciitis and is associated with high mortality. We describe a female patient with a past medical history of diabetes mellitus and myeloproliferative disorder presenting with bullae and erythema of the right forearm secondary to P. multocida infection after possible cat bite. Despite adequate antibiotic coverage she developed necrotizing fasciitis diagnosed clinically and on diagnostic imaging. Patient was taken to the operating room emergently and underwent irrigation and debridement with subsequent split-skin graft. She recovered well after the surgeries and was discharge on intravenous antibiotics. At clinic follow-up, her wounds were healing well without any significant new symptoms.

An international collaborative study to determine the prevalence of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia by monoclonal antibody-based cELISA.

PubMed

Peyraud, Armelle; Poumarat, François; Tardy, Florence; Manso-Silván, Lucía; Hamroev, Karomatullo; Tilloev, Tillo; Amirbekov, Mullojon; Tounkara, Karim; Bodjo, Charles; Wesonga, Hezron; Nkando, Isabel Gacheri; Jenberie, Shiferaw; Yami, Martha; Cardinale, Eric; Meenowa, Deodass; Jaumally, Mahmad Reshad; Yaqub, Tahir; Shabbir, Muhammad Zubair; Mukhtar, Nadia; Halimi, Mohibullah; Ziay, Ghulam Mohammad; Schauwers, Willy; Noori, Hafizullah; Rajabi, Ali Madad; Ostrowski, Stéphane; Thiaucourt, François

2014-02-24

Few serological tests are available for detecting antibodies against Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae, the causal agent of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP). The complement fixation test, the test prescribed for international trade purposes, uses a crude antigen that cross-reacts with all the other mycoplasma species of the "mycoides cluster" frequently infecting goat herds. The lack of a more specific test has been a real obstacle to the evaluation of the prevalence and economic impact of CCPP worldwide. A new competitive ELISA kit for CCPP, based on a previous blocking ELISA, was formatted at CIRAD and used to evaluate the prevalence of CCPP in some regions of Kenya, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Pakistan in an international collaborative study. The strict specificity of the test was confirmed in CCPP-free goat herds exposed to other mycoplasma species of the "mycoides cluster". Prevalence studies were performed across the enzootic range of the disease in Africa and Asia. Seroprevalence was estimated at 14.6% in the Afar region of Ethiopia, whereas all the herds presented for CCPP vaccination in Kenya tested positive (individual seroprevalence varied from 6 to 90% within each herd). In Mauritius, where CCPP emerged in 2009, nine of 62 herds tested positive. In Central Asia, where the disease was confirmed only recently, no positive animals were detected in the Wakhan District of Afghanistan or across the border in neighboring areas of Tajikistan, whereas seroprevalence varied between 2.7% and 44.2% in the other districts investigated and in northern Pakistan. The test was also used to monitor seroconversion in vaccinated animals. This newly formatted CCPP cELISA kit has retained the high specificity of the original kit. It can therefore be used to evaluate the prevalence of CCPP in countries or regions without vaccination programs. It could also be used to monitor the efficacy of vaccination campaigns as high-quality vaccines induce high

An international collaborative study to determine the prevalence of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia by monoclonal antibody-based cELISA

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Few serological tests are available for detecting antibodies against Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae, the causal agent of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP). The complement fixation test, the test prescribed for international trade purposes, uses a crude antigen that cross-reacts with all the other mycoplasma species of the “mycoides cluster” frequently infecting goat herds. The lack of a more specific test has been a real obstacle to the evaluation of the prevalence and economic impact of CCPP worldwide. A new competitive ELISA kit for CCPP, based on a previous blocking ELISA, was formatted at CIRAD and used to evaluate the prevalence of CCPP in some regions of Kenya, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Pakistan in an international collaborative study. Results The strict specificity of the test was confirmed in CCPP-free goat herds exposed to other mycoplasma species of the “mycoides cluster”. Prevalence studies were performed across the enzootic range of the disease in Africa and Asia. Seroprevalence was estimated at 14.6% in the Afar region of Ethiopia, whereas all the herds presented for CCPP vaccination in Kenya tested positive (individual seroprevalence varied from 6 to 90% within each herd). In Mauritius, where CCPP emerged in 2009, nine of 62 herds tested positive. In Central Asia, where the disease was confirmed only recently, no positive animals were detected in the Wakhan District of Afghanistan or across the border in neighboring areas of Tajikistan, whereas seroprevalence varied between 2.7% and 44.2% in the other districts investigated and in northern Pakistan. The test was also used to monitor seroconversion in vaccinated animals. Conclusions This newly formatted CCPP cELISA kit has retained the high specificity of the original kit. It can therefore be used to evaluate the prevalence of CCPP in countries or regions without vaccination programs. It could also be used to monitor the efficacy of vaccination

Willingness to pay for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccination in Narok South District of Kenya.

PubMed

Kairu-Wanyoike, Salome W; Kaitibie, Simeon; Heffernan, Claire; Taylor, Nick M; Gitau, George K; Kiara, Henry; McKeever, Declan

2014-08-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is an economically important trans-boundary cattle disease which affects food security and livelihoods. A conjoint analysis-contingent valuation was carried out on 190 households in Narok South District of Kenya to measure willingness to pay (WTP) and demand for CBPP vaccine and vaccination as well as factors affecting WTP. The mean WTP was calculated at Kenya Shillings (KSh) 212.48 (USD 3.03) for vaccination using a vaccine with the characteristics that were preferred by the farmers (preferred vaccine and vaccination) and KSh -71.45 (USD -1.02) for the currently used vaccine and vaccination. The proportion of farmers willing to pay an amount greater than zero was 66.7% and 34.4% for the preferred and current vaccine and vaccination respectively. About one third (33.3%) of farmers would need to be compensated an average amount of KSh 1162.62 (USD 13.68) per animal to allow their cattle to be vaccinated against CBPP using the preferred vaccine and vaccination. About two-thirds (65.6%) of farmers would need to be compensated an average amount of KSh 853.72 (USD 12.20) per animal to allow their cattle to be vaccinated against CBPP using the current vaccine and vaccination. The total amount of compensation would be KSh 61.39 million (USD 0.88 million) for the preferred vaccine and vaccination and KSh 90.15 million (USD 1.29 million) for the current vaccine and vaccination. Demand curves drawn from individual WTP demonstrated that only 59% and 27% of cattle owners with a WTP greater than zero were willing to pay a benchmark cost of KSh 34.60 for the preferred and current vaccine respectively. WTP was negatively influenced by the attitude about household economic situation (p=0.0078), presence of cross breeds in the herd (p<0.0001) and years since CBPP had been experienced in the herd (p=0.0375). It was positively influenced by education (p=0.0251) and the practice of treating against CBPP (p=0.0432). The benefit cost ratio (BCR

Willingness to pay for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccination in Narok South District of Kenya

PubMed Central

Kairu-Wanyoike, Salome W.; Kaitibie, Simeon; Heffernan, Claire; Taylor, Nick M.; Gitau, George K.; Kiara, Henry; McKeever, Declan

2014-01-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is an economically important trans-boundary cattle disease which affects food security and livelihoods. A conjoint analysis–contingent valuation was carried out on 190 households in Narok South District of Kenya to measure willingness to pay (WTP) and demand for CBPP vaccine and vaccination as well as factors affecting WTP. The mean WTP was calculated at Kenya Shillings (KSh) 212.48 (USD 3.03) for vaccination using a vaccine with the characteristics that were preferred by the farmers (preferred vaccine and vaccination) and KSh −71.45 (USD −1.02) for the currently used vaccine and vaccination. The proportion of farmers willing to pay an amount greater than zero was 66.7% and 34.4% for the preferred and current vaccine and vaccination respectively. About one third (33.3%) of farmers would need to be compensated an average amount of KSh 1162.62 (USD 13.68) per animal to allow their cattle to be vaccinated against CBPP using the preferred vaccine and vaccination. About two-thirds (65.6%) of farmers would need to be compensated an average amount of KSh 853.72 (USD 12.20) per animal to allow their cattle to be vaccinated against CBPP using the current vaccine and vaccination. The total amount of compensation would be KSh 61.39 million (USD 0.88 million) for the preferred vaccine and vaccination and KSh 90.15 million (USD 1.29 million) for the current vaccine and vaccination. Demand curves drawn from individual WTP demonstrated that only 59% and 27% of cattle owners with a WTP greater than zero were willing to pay a benchmark cost of KSh 34.60 for the preferred and current vaccine respectively. WTP was negatively influenced by the attitude about household economic situation (p = 0.0078), presence of cross breeds in the herd (p < 0.0001) and years since CBPP had been experienced in the herd (p = 0.0375). It was positively influenced by education (p = 0.0251) and the practice of treating against CBPP (p = 0.0432). The

Infectious Angiogenesis-Different Pathways, the Same Goal.

PubMed

Urbanowicz, Maria; Kutzner, Heinz; Riveiro-Falkenbach, Erica; Rodriguez-Peralto, Jose L

2016-11-01

Infectious angiogenesis is the biological response of neoangiogenesis induced by infectious organisms. The authors present 3 exemplary entities which show paradigmatic clinico-pathological settings of infectious angiogenesis: Bacillary angiomatosis, Orf (ecthyma contagiosum), and Kaposi sarcoma. The authors review the literature and elucidate etiopathogenetic pathways leading to the phenomenon of neovascularization stimulated by infectious organisms. The authors describe the clinical and histological pictures, interactions between microorganisms and host cells, and changes that occur within cellular structures, as well as angiogenic factors that underpin infectious angiogenesis. The importance of chronic inflammation and tumor angiogenesis is emphasized.

Photoletter to the editor: Atypical primary cutaneous mucormycosis of the scalp.

PubMed

García-Sepúlveda, Ricardo; Navarrete-Solís, Josefina; Villanueva-Lozano, Hiram; de J Treviño-Rangel, Rogelio; González, Gloria M; Enríquez-Rojas, Jorge; Molina-Durazo, Javier; Arenas-Guzmán, Roberto

2017-12-01

Mucormycosis of the scalp is a rare cutaneous presentation of the disease. It is also an unusual infection in children. We present the case of a 4-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, who presented with atypical cutaneous mucormycosis simulating an ecthyma gangrenosum lesion. Risk factors for the infection are diabetes, neoplastic diseases, immunosuppression in organ transplant recipients, and neutropenia. The cutaneos forms have been associated with trauma, burns and surgical wounds. First line treatment is amphotericin B. Posaconazole was recently approved to treat invasive mucormycosis. Surgical removal of the infected tissue is indicated.

Genetic evolution of Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae strains and molecular epidemiology of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia by sequencing of locus H2.

PubMed

Lorenzon, S; Wesonga, H; Ygesu, Laikemariam; Tekleghiorgis, Tesfaalem; Maikano, Y; Angaya, M; Hendrikx, P; Thiaucourt, F

2002-03-01

Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is a major threat to goat farming in developing countries. Its exact distribution is not well known, despite the fact that new diagnostic tools such as PCR and competitive ELISA are now available. The authors developed a study of the molecular epidemiology of the disease, based on the amplification of a 2400 bp long fragment containing two duplicated gene coding for a putative membrane protein. The sequence of this fragment, obtained on 19 Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae (Mccp) strains from various geographical locations, gave 11 polymorphic positions. The three mutations found on gene H2prim were silent and did not appear to induce any amino acid modifications in the putative translated protein. The second gene may be a pseudogene not translated in vivo, as it bore a deletion of the ATG codon found in the other members of the "Mycoplasma mycoides cluster" and as the six mutations evidenced in the Mccp strains would induce modifications in the translated amino acids. In addition, an Mccp strain isolated in the United Arab Emirates showed a deletion of the whole pseudogene, a further indication that this gene is not compulsory for mycoplasma growth. Four lineages were defined, based on the nucleotide sequence. These correlated relatively well with the geographical origin of the strains: North, Central or East Africa. The strain of Turkish origin had a sequence similar to that found in North African strains, while strains isolated in Oman had sequences similar to those of North or East African strains. The latter is possibly due to the regular import of goats of various origins. Similar molecular epidemiology tools have been developed by sequencing the two operons of the 16S rRNA gene or by AFLP. All these various techniques give complementary results. One (16S rRNA) offers the likelihood of a finer identification of strains circulating in a region, another (H2) of determining the geographical origin of the

Is Acute Bronchitis Contagious?

MedlinePlus

... of Privacy Practices Notice of Nondiscrimination Manage Cookies Advertising Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not ...

A molecular epidemiology of treponemes in beef cattle digital dermatitis lesions and comparative analyses with sheep contagious ovine digital dermatitis and dairy cattle digital dermatitis lesions.

PubMed

Sullivan, L E; Evans, N J; Blowey, R W; Grove-White, D H; Clegg, S R; Duncan, J S; Carter, S D

2015-07-09

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is an infective foot disease commonly reported in dairy cattle where Treponema are considered as the primary causative infectious agents. There still remains little definitive information on the etiology of BDD in beef cattle suggesting further investigations are warranted. Beef BDD lesions (n=34) and healthy beef foot tissues (n=38) were analysed by PCR for three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups and also for Dichelobacter nodosus and Fusobacterium necrophorum. Spirochete culture was attempted on all BDD lesion samples. One or more BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups were detected in 100% of beef BDD lesions. "Treponema medium/Treponema vincentii-like", "Treponema phagedenis-like" and Treponema pedis spirochetes were identified in 27/34 (79%), 31/34 (91%) and 24/34 (71%) of BDD lesions, respectively. No BDD-associated treponeme DNA was amplified from beef healthy foot tissues. D. nodosus and F. necrophorum were present in 24/34 (71%) and 15/34 (44%) of lesions and 10/38 (26%) and 12/38 (32%) of healthy foot tissues, respectively. Twenty spirochetes were isolated from beef BDD lesions; 19 were representatives of the three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups. One spirochete isolate shared less than 97% 16S rRNA gene similarity to the three cultivable BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups and therefore may represent a novel taxa of Treponema. Upon comparison, sheep contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), dairy cattle and beef cattle BDD lesions appear to have extremely similar bacteriological data and therefore provides evidence of a shared etiopathogenesis posing concerns for cross-species transmission. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

9 CFR 71.3 - Interstate movement of diseased animals and poultry generally prohibited.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, highly pathogenic avian influenza, dourine, contagious equine metritis..., swine influenza, arthritis (simple lesions only), and shipping fever. (2) Cattle with slight unopened...

Yawning Detection Sensitivity and Yawning Contagion

PubMed Central

Chan, Meingold H. M.

2017-01-01

Contagious yawning—the urge to yawn when thinking about, listening to, or viewing yawning—is a well-documented phenomenon in humans and animals. The reduced yawn contagion observed in the autistic population suggested that it might be empathy related; however, it is unknown whether such a connection applies to nonclinical populations. We examined influences from both empathy (i.e., autistic traits) and nonempathy factors (i.e., individuals’ perceptual detection sensitivity to yawning, happy, and angry faces) on 41 nonclinical adults. We induced contagious yawning with a 5-minute video and 20 yawning photo stimuli. In addition, we measured participants’ autistic traits (with the autism-spectrum quotient questionnaire), eye gaze patterns, and their perceptual thresholds to detect yawning and emotion in human face photos. We found two factors associated with yawning contagion: (a) those more sensitive to detect yawning, but not other emotional expressions, displayed more contagious yawning than those less sensitive to yawning expressions, and (b) female participants exhibited significantly more contagious yawning than male participants. We did not find an association between autistic trait and contagious yawning. Our study offers a working hypothesis for future studies, in that perceptual encoding of yawning interacts with susceptibility to contagious yawning. PMID:28890778

First report on the molecular prevalence of Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp) in goats the cause of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

PubMed

Awan, Mohammad Arif; Abbas, Ferhat; Yasinzai, Masoom; Nicholas, Robin A J; Babar, Shakeel; Ayling, Roger D; Attique, Mohammad Adnan; Ahmed, Zafar; Wadood, Abdul; Khan, Faisal Ameer

2010-10-01

Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp) is a disease of goats which causes high morbidity and mortality and is reported in many countries of the world. There are probably no reports on the molecular prevalence of Mccp, Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum (Mcc) and Mycoplasma putrefaciens (Mp) in Balochistan and any other part of Pakistan. Thirty goats (n = 30) with marked respiratory symptoms were selected and procured from forty goat flocks in Pishin district of Balochistan in 2008. The genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from the lung samples (n = 30) of the slaughtered goats was purified and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the presence of Mycoplasma mycoides cluster members and Mp. The PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) was also used to further confirm the Mccp. Of the thirty lung samples 17 (56.67%) were positive for the molecular prevalence of Mcc, Mccp and Mp. In total the molecular prevalence was observed as 17.65% for Mccp (n = 3), 70.59% for Mcc (n = 12) and 11.76% for Mp (n = 2). The RFLP profile has also validated the PCR results of Mccp by yielding two bands of 190 and 126 bp. The results of PCR-RFLP coupled with the presence of fibrinous pleuropneumonia and pleurisy during postmortem of goats (n = 3) strongly indicated the prevalence of CCPP in this part of world. Moreover the prevalence of Mcc and Mp is also alarming in the study area. We report for the very first time the molecular prevalence of Mcc, Mccp, and Mp in the lung tissues of goats in the Pishin district of Balochistan, Pakistan.

How Long Is Mono Contagious?

MedlinePlus

... Here's how it works: Mono is short for mononucleosis . It's usually caused by an infection with the ... May 2018 More on this topic for: Teens Mononucleosis How Do Doctors Test for Mono? Can a ...

Contagious Ideas from Health Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaffee, Ellen

2009-01-01

Financial problems plague both higher education and health care, two sectors that struggle to meet public expectations for quality services at affordable rates. Both higher education and health care also have a complex bottom line, heavy reliance on relatively autonomous professionals, and clients who share personal responsibility for achieving…

Comparative assessment of two commonly used commercial ELISA tests for the serological diagnosis of contagious agalactia of small ruminants caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Contagious agalactia (CA) of sheep and goats caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae is a widely occurring economically important disease that is difficult to control. The ELISA is commonly used for the serological detection of CA but it has some limitations and the performance of the available tests have not been properly evaluated. Two commercial ELISA kits are widely used, one involving a fusion protein as target antigen and the other a total antigen. The objectives were to compare these tests by evaluating: i. Their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, the relevance of the recommended cut-off points, the correlation between the two tests, and, the correlation between serology data and the milk shedding of M. agalatiae; ii. The influence of extrinsic factors such as the targeted animal species, geographical origin of the samples, intra-specific variability of M. agalactiae and concurrent mycoplasma infections. A sample of 5900 animals from 211 farms with continuous CA monitoring for 20 years and no prior vaccination history was used. The infection status was known from prior bacteriological, epidemiological and serological monitoring with a complementary immunoblotting test. Results The average diagnostic sensitivity was 56% [51.8–59.8] for the fusion protein ELISA and 84% [81.3–87.2] for the total antigen ELISA, with noteworthy flock-related variations. The average diagnostic specificity for the fusion protein ELISA was 100% [99.9–100], and for the total antigen ELISA differed significantly between goats and sheep: 99.3% [97.4–99.9] and 95.7% [93.8–97.2] respectively. Experimental inoculations with different M. agalactiae strains revealed that the ELISA kits poorly detected the antibody response to certain strains. Furthermore, test performances varied according to the host species or geographical origin of the samples. Finally, the correlation between milk shedding of M. agalactiae and the presence of detectable antibodies in the blood was

Sheep and farm level factors associated with contagious ovine digital dermatitis: A longitudinal repeated cross-sectional study of sheep on six farms.

PubMed

Angell, J W; Grove-White, D H; Duncan, J S

2015-11-01

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) is a cause of severe lameness in sheep in the UK currently affecting approximately 50% of farms. Six farms were studied in North Wales to investigate (1) the prevalence dynamics of CODD, (2) the association between sheep with CODD and potential risk factors and (3) the impact of CODD on lameness in sheep. The farms were visited at approximately two-month intervals between June 2012 and October 2013 and 6515 sheep were examined. The mean sheep level prevalence of CODD varied between farms (2.5-11.9%). Within farms, prevalence may increase in the late summer/early autumn and after housing. Environmental risk factors included larger flocks, lowland pasture, lush pasture and poached pasture. Co-infection of a foot with footrot was strongly associated with CODD in that foot (OR: 7.7 95% CI: 3.9-15.5 P<0.001) but negatively associated with co-infection of a foot with interdigital dermatitis (OR: 0.04 95% CI: 0.02-0.1 P<0.001). Reinfection with CODD was observed in 78 individual sheep but there was no re-infection at foot level. Lameness on all farms reduced during the study and seasonal changes in lameness followed similar patterns to those for CODD. Infection with CODD leads to a greater increase in locomotion score compared to footrot or interdigital dermatitis and CODD lesion grade was strongly associated with being lame. Sheep with CODD in more than one foot were more likely to be lame (OR: 25.0 95% CI: 12.5-49.9 P<0.001) than those with just one foot affected (OR:10.0 95% CI: 8.6-11.6 P<0.001). The biggest risk factor for CODD is co-infection with footrot and therefore control of footrot should help reduce the risk of CODD on affected farms. Furthermore environmental risk factors for CODD are similar to those for footrot adding weight for control strategies that target both diseases in tandem. The routine repeated gathering of sheep for the purposes of treating all lame sheep might be an effective control strategy for

Defense Science Board 2003 Summer Study on DoD Roles and Missions in Homeland Security: Volume 2 - A: Supporting Reports

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-01

Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 This report is a product of the Defense... products ; − Making available the experience (e.g., technical training materials, procedures, publications) gained from its effort to strengthen... products of organisms. Infectious organisms include contagious and non-contagious varieties, and toxins which can act in the long term (e. g., as

Contagious Learning: Drama, Experience and "Perezhivanie"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Susan; Dolan, Kathryn

2016-01-01

The relationship between experience, emotions, cognition, and learning is of increasing interest to educators and researchers who recognise that efforts to promote student engagement and learning must take into account factors beyond the purely cognitive and instrumental. The significance of experience considered as a unity in regard to child…

Dover Port Mortuary Independent Review Subcommittee Final Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

improper handling and transport of remains with possible contagious disease (suspected tuberculosis based on nodules observed on lungs at the time of...Universal precautions regarding infectious disease control and exposure control procedures have been developed and applied with regard to the handling of...transport of remains with possible contagious disease (suspected tuberculosis based on nodules observed on lungs at the time of autopsy); improper

Dover Port Mortuary Independent Review Subcommittee Final Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-27

improper handling and transport of remains with possible contagious disease (suspected tuberculosis based on nodules observed on lungs at the time of...Universal precautions regarding infectious disease control and exposure control procedures have been developed and applied with regard to the handling of...transport of remains with possible contagious disease (suspected tuberculosis based on nodules observed on lungs at the time of autopsy); improper

Qualitative and quantitative impacts assessment of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Fulani pastoral herds of North-central Nigeria: The associated socio-cultural factors.

PubMed

Alhaji, N B; Babalobi, O O

2016-06-01

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia is one of the most important trans-boundary disease affecting Fulani cattle herds of Nigeria and whose control is urgently needed. A Participatory Epidemiology approach and cross-sectional study were concurrently conducted to investigate qualitative and quantitative impacts of CBPP, respectively and associated socio-cultural factors that influenced exposure of Fulani nomadic pastoral communities to its risk in Niger State, North-central Nigeria between January and December 2013. A total of nine pastoral communities were purposively selected for qualitative impact assessment using Participatory Rural Appraisal tools, while 765 cattle randomly sampled from 125 purposively selected nomadic herds were analyzed using c-ELISA. Data on socio-cultural characteristics were collected using structured questionnaires administered on nomadic herd owners of the 125 selected herds. Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance W statistics and OpenEpi 2.3 were used for statistical analyses. Pastoralists' dependent factors associated with their socio-cultural activities were tested using Chisquare tests and likelihood backward logistic regressions. The mean proportional piles (relative qualitative impact) of CBPP was 12.6%, and nomads agreement on this impact was strong (W=0.6855) and statistically significant (P<0.001). This was validated by 16.2% (95% CI: 13.7, 19.0) sero-positive (quantitative impact). Highest sero-prevalence of 25.3% was observed in Northern agro-ecological zone, while lowest of 6.2% was in Eastern zone. Pastoralists in the age groups 51-60 and 61-70 years were more likely (OR 13.07; 95% CI: 3.21, 53.12 and OR 7.10; 95% CI: 1.77, 28.33, respectively) to have satisfactory information/awareness on CBPP and lowland transhumance pastoralists were more likely (OR 5.21; 95% CI: 2.01, 13.54) to have satisfactory information. Socio-cultural activities of extensive husbandry system was six times more likely (OR 5.79; 95% CI: 2.55, 13.13) to be

[The viral hepatitis and its economic significance and prevention].

PubMed

Petruchuk, O E; Shchenin, V O; Bedrin, A V; Leshcheva, G A

2008-01-01

The reference of only part of diseases having contagious nature to the infectious pathology is closely related to the tradition of considering the infections as highly contagious diseases inclined to epidemic propagation. The data is presented related to the morbidity of viral hepatitis among the population of the City of Krasnodar. The corresponding economic losses and the achievements of medical preventive activities considering the social economic and other characteristics of the specific socium are considered.

Is it contagious? Affect similarity among spouses.

PubMed

Goodman, C R; Shippy, R A

2002-08-01

Theories of emotional contagion suggest that spouses mutually experience affective or emotional states. However, empirical support for this theory is limited. Using a dyadic approach, this study examines affect similarity of depressive symptoms between elders with vision impairment and their spouses. As part of an investigation on older couples dealing with disability, 123 elders dealing with a recent vision loss and their spouses were interviewed. Guided by a stress process model, predictors of spouse depressive symptoms were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the spouse's race, health, care-giving appraisal, self-efficacy, conflict with other family members regarding their partner, and their partner's depressive symptoms significantly predicted spouse depression. Specifically, spouses who were white, in poorer health, experienced more care-giving burden, had more family conflict, and poorer self-efficacy, were more likely to be depressed. Entered in the final step, elder depression uniquely contributed to the prediction of spouse depression. This points to affect similarity among spouses, which suggests that when one spouse is depressed, the other spouse is likely to experience a similar depressive symptomatology.

Stomach Flu: How Long Am I Contagious?

MedlinePlus

... the last time they vomit or have diarrhea. Rotavirus. Symptoms of rotavirus — the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis in infants ... or linens that might be contaminated. Two oral rotavirus vaccines are available for young infants — RotaTeq and ...

E-learning of infection control: it's contagious.

PubMed

Bryce, Elizabeth; Yassi, Annalee; Maultsaid, Deirdre; Gamage, Bruce; Landstrom, Margaret; LoChang, Justin; Hon, Chun-Yip

2008-01-01

This article outlines the steps taken to deliver standardized infection control and occupational health training to all healthcare workers across a Canadian health authority, using an online module developed by a multidisciplinary team. The course had to meet a diverse variety of learner needs, be relevant to day-to-day practice, be accessible, as well as fulfill healthcare guidelines for both infection control and occupational health. The course was designed to be interactive and uses a wide variety of techniques to engage the learner such as video clips describing use of personal protective equipment, and drop-and-drag technology. Since implementation in 2006, the course has been endorsed by stakeholders and used in staff clinical orientations, for residents, for student placements, and for physicians as part of their hospital privileges, as well as healthcare workers across the health authority. Results of the user satisfaction survey (N=280) showed that the course was relevant and simple to navigate. Observations (N=117) of personal protective equipment donning and doffing of staff post-course showed that the module effectively transferred knowledge. Analysis of the interview results (N=50) suggested that making the course required would be seen as an incentive and visible sign of management commitment to safety. Development of the module was instructive both for the learners and the online infection control/education team. The implementation process provided insight into how best to deliver and evaluate healthcare content while ensuring that the product is user friendly. The process underscored the importance of engaging key stakeholders. With this course, learning of infection control principles has been made more efficient and enjoyable.

Corrigendum.

PubMed

2016-01-01

Jakubowski, T.L., Perron, T.J., and Teixeira, E. (2015). Rashes in school: Can they stay, or should they go? NASN School Nurse, 30(5): 274-282. (Original DOI: 10.1177/1942602X15596815)In the September 2015 issue of NASN School Nurse, the images for Lyme Disease and Spider bites were reversed. The correct order appears below.spnas;31/1/61/TABLE11942602X15621761T1table1-1942602X15621761Table 5.Bites/Stings in ChildrenDiagnosis(Bites, Stings, cutaneous infestations)Rash DescriptionSigns and SymptomsStay in School or Go Home?PhotoLyme Disease (Borrelia burgdorferi)Transmitted by deer tickErythema rash when present, "Bull's eye rash" distinct red borders with central clearing.Rash at site of bite but can have multiple rashesFever, joint pain, malaise, headache, single swollen joint usually knee usually accompany the rash.Not Contagious: Can stay at school.Incubation: 1-32 days median is 11 days. April through October with more than 50% of the cases presenting in June and July.Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) Rickettial infection transmitted by wood ticks.Characteristic spotted rash, maculopapular and sometimes petechial rash.Triad of fever, rash, and history of tick exposure, headache, vomiting, sore throatNot Contagious: Can stay at school.Rash initially appears on wrists and ankles and spreads to trunk within hours. Palms of hands and soles of feet are also involved.Incubation: Average time frame one week. Can range 2-14 days. August through September highest prevalence.Scabies(Mites)Papules and burrows, excoriation secondary to scratching.Intense itching especially at night. Commonly seen between the fingers and toes.Is Contagious: Should go home.Skin-to-skin contact. Mites can remain alive for > 2 days on clothing and bedding.Incubation: 4-6 weeksIf the child had it previously 1-4 days.*Can return to school with medical clearance.Bee stingsLocalized swelling, redness. If allergic can spread rapidly. Raised pink wheel.Pain, redness, swelling, hives if allergic

Norwegian scabies - rare case of atypical manifestation.

PubMed

Ebrahim, Karina Corrêa; Alves, Júlia Barazetti; Tomé, Lísias de Araújo; Moraes, Carlos Floriano de; Gaspar, Arianne Ditzel; Franck, Karin Fernanda; Hussein, Mohamad Ali; Cruz, Lucas Raiser da; Ebrahim, Leonardo Duque; Sidney, Luis Felipe de Oliveira

2016-01-01

Human scabies affects all social classes and different races around the world. It is highly contagious, but the exact figures on its prevalence are unknown. A 19-year-old male patient was admitted to the emergency room reporting fever (38°C) and multiple lesions throughout the body, except face, soles, and palms. Lesions were non-pruritic, which hampered the initial diagnostic suspicion. Skin biopsy was performed, and the final diagnosis was crusted scabies (Norwegian). It was concluded that human scabies is a significant epidemic disease, due to its different clinical manifestations, and because it is extremely contagious.

Contagious parthenogenesis, automixis, and a sex determination meltdown.

PubMed

Engelstädter, Jan; Sandrock, Christoph; Vorburger, Christoph

2011-02-01

Because of the twofold cost of sex, genes conferring asexual reproduction are expected to spread rapidly in sexual populations. However, in reality this simple prediction is often confounded by several complications observed in natural systems. Motivated by recent findings in the Cape honey bee and in the parasitoid wasp Lysiphlebus fabarum, we explore through mathematical models the spread of a recessive, parthenogenesis inducing allele in a haplodiploid population. The focus of these models is on the intricate interactions between the mode of parthenogenesis induction through automixis and complementary sex determination (CSD) systems. These interactions may result in asexual production of diploid male offspring and the spread of the parthenogenesis-inducing allele through these males. We demonstrate that if parthenogenetic females produce a substantial proportion of male offspring, this may prevent the parthenogenesis-inducing allele from spreading. However, this effect is weakened if these diploid males are at least partially fertile. We also predict a degradation of multilocus CSD systems during the spread of parthenogenesis, following which only a single polymorphic CSD locus is maintained. Finally, based on empirical parameter estimates from L. fabarum we predict that male production in parthenogens is unlikely to prevent the eventual loss of sexual reproduction in this system. © 2010 The Author(s). Evolution© 2010 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

A social contagious model of the obesity epidemic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, He; Yan, Zhijun; Chen, Yahong; Liu, Fangyan

2016-11-01

Obesity has been recognized as a global epidemic by WHO, followed by many empirical evidences to prove its infectiousness. However, the inter-person spreading dynamics of obesity are seldom studied. A distinguishing feature of the obesity epidemic is that it is driven by a social contagion process which cannot be perfectly described by the infectious disease models. In this paper, we propose a novel belief decision model based on the famous Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence to model obesity epidemic as the competing spread of two obesity-related behaviors: physical inactivity and physical activity. The transition of health states is described by an SIS model. Results reveal the existence of obesity epidemic threshold, above which obesity is quickly eradicated. When increasing the fading level of information spread, enlarging the clustering of initial obese seeds, or introducing small-world characteristics into the network topology, the threshold is easily met. Social discrimination against the obese people plays completely different roles in two cases: on one hand, when obesity cannot be eradicated, social discrimination can reduce the number of obese people; on the other hand, when obesity is eradicable, social discrimination may instead cause it breaking out.

Contagious Tolerance: Creating Safe Schools for Our Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Joseph R.

2011-01-01

This presentation is premised on a research study that was conducted with a group of secondary teachers. The study examined how teachers grappled with issues surrounding homophobia and heterosexism in their schools. For the purpose of this presentation, some of the findings from this study have been applied to the college campus. Specifically, the…

Functional response and capture timing in an individual-based model: predation by northern squawfish (Ptychocheilus oregonensis) on juvenile salmonids in the Columbia River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Petersen, James H.; DeAngelis, Donald L.

1992-01-01

The behavior of individual northern squawfish (Ptychocheilus oregonensis) preying on juvenile salmonids was modeled to address questions about capture rate and the timing of prey captures (random versus contagious). Prey density, predator weight, prey weight, temperature, and diel feeding pattern were first incorporated into predation equations analogous to Holling Type 2 and Type 3 functional response models. Type 2 and Type 3 equations fit field data from the Columbia River equally well, and both models predicted predation rates on five of seven independent dates. Selecting a functional response type may be complicated by variable predation rates, analytical methods, and assumptions of the model equations. Using the Type 2 functional response, random versus contagious timing of prey capture was tested using two related models. ln the simpler model, salmon captures were assumed to be controlled by a Poisson renewal process; in the second model, several salmon captures were assumed to occur during brief "feeding bouts", modeled with a compound Poisson process. Salmon captures by individual northern squawfish were clustered through time, rather than random, based on comparison of model simulations and field data. The contagious-feeding result suggests that salmonids may be encountered as patches or schools in the river.

Video-induced yawning in stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides)

PubMed Central

Paukner, Annika; Anderson, James R

2005-01-01

This study reports the first experimental exploration of possible contagious yawning in monkeys. Twenty-two stumptail macaques (Macaca arctoides) were presented with video clips of either yawns or control mouth movements by conspecifics. At a group level, monkeys yawned significantly more often during and just after the yawn tape than the control tape. Supplementary analysis revealed that the yawn tape also elicited significantly more self-directed scratching responses than the control tape, which suggests that yawning might have been caused by tension arising from viewing the yawn tape. Understanding to what extent the observed effect resembles contagious yawning as found in humans and chimpanzees requires more detailed experimentation. PMID:17148320

Health, Morality, and Housing: The “Tenement Problem” in Chicago

PubMed Central

Garb, Margaret

2003-01-01

In this article, I trace the history of Chicago’s Health Department, exploring when and how housing conditions came to be considered a serious social problem requiring municipal regulation. Although journalists and labor leaders were among the first Chicagoans to link tenement housing to the spread of contagious disease, Health Department officials quickly began regulating the city’s housing stock under their own authority. I argue that in attempting to eliminate the dangers of contagious disease, a long-standing public health threat, health officials drew new attention to the dangers of multifamily dwellings and set a precedent for government regulation of living conditions in tenement dwellings. PMID:12948956

Acute Cutaneous Necrosis: A Guide to Early Diagnosis and Treatment.

PubMed

Karimi, Karen; Odhav, Ashika; Kollipara, Ramya; Fike, Jesse; Stanford, Carol; Hall, John C

Acute cutaneous necrosis is characterised by a wide range of aetiologies and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, warranting complex considerations in management. Early recognition is imperative in diagnosis and management of sudden gangrenous changes in the skin. This review discusses major causes of cutaneous necrosis, examines the need for early assessment, and integrates techniques related to diagnosis and management. The literature, available via PubMed, on acute cutaneous necrotic syndromes was reviewed to summarise causes and synthesise appropriate treatment strategies to create a clinician's guide in the early diagnosis and management of acute cutaneous necrosis. Highlighted in this article are key features associated with common causes of acute cutaneous necrosis: warfarin-induced skin necrosis, heparin-induced skin necrosis, calciphylaxis, pyoderma gangrenosum, embolic phenomena, purpura fulminans, brown recluse spider bite, necrotising fasciitis, ecthyma gangrenosum, antiphospholipid syndrome, hypergammaglobulinemia, and cryoglobulinemia. This review serves to increase recognition of these serious pathologies and complications, allowing for prompt diagnosis and swift limb- or life-saving management.

Transmissible cancers in an evolutionary context.

PubMed

Ujvari, Beata; Papenfuss, Anthony T; Belov, Katherine

2016-07-01

Cancer is an evolutionary and ecological process in which complex interactions between tumour cells and their environment share many similarities with organismal evolution. Tumour cells with highest adaptive potential have a selective advantage over less fit cells. Naturally occurring transmissible cancers provide an ideal model system for investigating the evolutionary arms race between cancer cells and their surrounding micro-environment and macro-environment. However, the evolutionary landscapes in which contagious cancers reside have not been subjected to comprehensive investigation. Here, we provide a multifocal analysis of transmissible tumour progression and discuss the selection forces that shape it. We demonstrate that transmissible cancers adapt to both their micro-environment and macro-environment, and evolutionary theories applied to organisms are also relevant to these unique diseases. The three naturally occurring transmissible cancers, canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) and Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) and the recently discovered clam leukaemia, exhibit different evolutionary phases: (i) CTVT, the oldest naturally occurring cell line is remarkably stable; (ii) DFTD exhibits the signs of stepwise cancer evolution; and (iii) clam leukaemia shows genetic instability. While all three contagious cancers carry the signature of ongoing and fairly recent adaptations to selective forces, CTVT appears to have reached an evolutionary stalemate with its host, while DFTD and the clam leukaemia appear to be still at a more dynamic phase of their evolution. Parallel investigation of contagious cancer genomes and transcriptomes and of their micro-environment and macro-environment could shed light on the selective forces shaping tumour development at different time points: during the progressive phase and at the endpoint. A greater understanding of transmissible cancers from an evolutionary ecology perspective will provide novel avenues for

Extinction times of epidemic outbreaks in networks.

PubMed

Holme, Petter

2013-01-01

In the Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) model of disease spreading, the time to extinction of the epidemics happens at an intermediate value of the per-contact transmission probability. Too contagious infections burn out fast in the population. Infections that are not contagious enough die out before they spread to a large fraction of people. We characterize how the maximal extinction time in SIR simulations on networks depend on the network structure. For example we find that the average distances in isolated components, weighted by the component size, is a good predictor of the maximal time to extinction. Furthermore, the transmission probability giving the longest outbreaks is larger than, but otherwise seemingly independent of, the epidemic threshold.

Short communication: In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycoplasma agalactiae strains isolated from dairy goats.

PubMed

Paterna, A; Sánchez, A; Gómez-Martín, A; Corrales, J C; De la Fe, C; Contreras, A; Amores, J

2013-01-01

This study examined the susceptibility to several antimicrobials of 28 isolates of Mycoplasma agalactiae obtained from goats in a region (southeastern Spain) where contagious agalactia is endemic. For each isolate, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against 12 antimicrobials of the quinolone, macrolide, aminoglycoside, and tetracycline families was determined. The antimicrobials with the lowest MIC were enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, tylosin, and doxycycline, all with MIC90 (concentration at which growth of 90% of the isolates is inhibited) <1 µg/mL. Norfloxacin (a quinolone) showed a wide MIC range (0.1-12.8 µg/mL), suggesting a resistance mechanism toward this antimicrobial that was not elicited by enrofloxacin or ciprofloxacin (the other quinolones tested). Erythromycin showed the highest MIC90 such that its use against Mycoplasma agalactiae is not recommended. Finally, Mycoplasma agalactiae isolates obtained from goat herds with clinical symptoms of contagious agalactia featured higher MIC90 and MIC50 (concentration at which growth of 50% of the isolates is inhibited) values for many of the antimicrobials compared with isolates from asymptomatic animals. The relationship between the extensive use of antimicrobials in herds with clinical contagious agalactia and variations in MIC requires further study. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

32 CFR 728.42 - NATO.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... evacuation system of the holding nation. (2) Classification of patients. Different channels for disposition... acute medical and surgical conditions, exclusive of nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those...

Pulmonary tuberculosis

MedlinePlus

TB; Tuberculosis - pulmonary; Mycobacterium - pulmonary ... Pulmonary TB is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tuberculosis) . TB is contagious. This means the bacteria is easily spread from an infected person ...

9 CFR 93.200 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., swine, horses, asses, mules, zebras, dogs, and poultry. Communicable disease. Any contagious, infectious... duties required under this subpart. Operator. For the purpose of § 93.209, any person operating an...

About Chickenpox

MedlinePlus

... Resources Multimedia Related Links Medline Plus Shingles About Chickenpox Language: English Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Chickenpox is a very contagious disease caused by the ...

Agricultural freight : network access and issues.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

Objectives: Better understand inherent risk of highly : contagious disease spread among : Vermont dairy farms; Better prepare response agencies and : individuals; Stimulate continuity of business planning : among producers and allied industry

Cruise tap versus handshake: using common sense to reduce hand contamination and germ transmission on cruise ships.

PubMed

Dahl, Eilif

2016-01-01

A firm handshake is a widely used greeting, but contaminated fingers and palms can also transfer bacteria and virus. Hand sanitation is important to prevent spreading of contagious diseases, but to wash hands properly takes too much time to ensure satisfactory compliance. Banning the handshake from health care settings has been proposed, but an alternative, less contagious form of greeting must be substituted. Cruise ships are particular vulnerable to infectious diseases that are transferred from person to person. The fist bump, common in some subcultures, has become increasing popular as the greeting-of-choice on smaller cruise vessels. To further reduce the contact area, a modification of the fist bump, the 'cruise tap', where only two knuckles briefly touch each other, is recommended.

Contagious Coronal Heating from Recurring Emergence of Magnetic Flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moore, R. L.; Falconer, D. A.; Sterling, A. C.

2002-01-01

For each of six old bipolar active regions, we present and interpret Yohkoh/SXT and SOHO/MDI observations of the development, over several days, of enhanced coronal heating in and around the old bipole in response to new magnetic flux emergence within the old bipole. The observations show: 1. In each active region, new flux emerges in the equatorward side of the old bipole, around a lone remaining leading sunspot and/or on the equatorward end of the neutral line of the old bipole. 2. The emerging field is marked by intense internal coronal heating, and enhanced coronal heating occurs in extended loops stemming from the emergence site. 3. In five of the six cases, a "rooster tail" of coronal loops in the poleward extent of the old bipole also brightens in response to the flux emergence. 4. There are episodes of enhanced coronal heating in surrounding magnetic fields that are contiguous with the old bipole but are not directly connected to the emerging field. From these observations, we suggest that the accommodation of localized newly emerged flux within an old active region entails far reaching adjustments in the 3D magnetic field throughout the active region and in surrounding fields in which the active region is embedded, and that these adjustments produce the extensive enhanced coronal heating. We Also Note That The Reason For The recurrence of flux emergence in old active regions may be that active-region flux tends to emerge in giant-cell convection downflows. If so, the poleward "rooster tail" is a coronal flag of a long-lasting downflow in the convection zone. This work was funded by NASA's Office of Space Science through the Solar Physics Supporting Research and Technology Program and the Sun-Earth Connection Guest Investigator Program.

Contagious rhythm: infectious diseases of 20th century musicians.

PubMed

Sartin, Jeffrey S

2010-07-01

Infectious diseases have led to illness and death for many famous musicians, from the classical period to the rock 'n' roll era. By the 20th century, as public health improved and orchestral composers began living more settled lives, infections among American and European musicians became less prominent. By mid-century, however, seminal jazz musicians famously pursued lifestyles characterized by drug and alcohol abuse. Among the consequences of this risky lifestyle were tuberculosis, syphilis, and chronic viral hepatitis. More contemporary rock musicians have experienced an epidemic of hepatitis C infection and HIV/AIDS related to intravenous drug use and promiscuity. Musical innovation is thus often accompanied by diseases of neglect and overindulgence, particularly infectious illnesses, although risky behavior and associated infectious illnesses tend to decrease as the style matures.

Contagious Rhythm: Infectious Diseases of 20th Century Musicians

PubMed Central

Sartin, Jeffrey S.

2010-01-01

Infectious diseases have led to illness and death for many famous musicians, from the classical period to the rock ’n’ roll era. By the 20th century, as public health improved and orchestral composers began living more settled lives, infections among American and European musicians became less prominent. By mid-century, however, seminal jazz musicians famously pursued lifestyles characterized by drug and alcohol abuse. Among the consequences of this risky lifestyle were tuberculosis, syphilis, and chronic viral hepatitis. More contemporary rock musicians have experienced an epidemic of hepatitis C infection and HIV/AIDS related to intravenous drug use and promiscuity. Musical innovation is thus often accompanied by diseases of neglect and overindulgence, particularly infectious illnesses, although risky behavior and associated infectious illnesses tend to decrease as the style matures. PMID:20660936

Contagious equine metritis: artificial reproduction changes the epidemiologic paradigm.

PubMed

Schulman, Martin Lance; May, Catherine Edith; Keys, Bronwyn; Guthrie, Alan John

2013-11-29

Recent CEM outbreak reports reflect a novel epidemiologic manifestation with a markedly different risk association for transmission via artificial reproduction and subsequent to inadvertent importation of unapparent carrier stallions. Artificial breeding has an increased association with horizontal or fomite-associated transmission. Reported risk factors include inadequate biosecurity protocols at centralised breeding facilities associated with stallion management and methods of semen collection, processing and transport. Detection of carriers is based on traditional bacteriology from genital swabs and despite limitations inherent to Taylorella equigenitalis is currently the gold standard applied in all international trade and movement protocols. These limitations are reported to be overcome by PCR assays improving diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, practicality, turn-around times, through-put and cost efficacy. Molecular methods have increased understanding of the Taylorelleae, facilitate epidemiologic surveillance and outbreak control strategies. Validation and international regulatory acceptance of a robust PCR-based assay and the undefined risks in association with cryopreserved semen and embryos are future areas warranting further investigation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contagious Coronal Heating from Recurring Emergence of Magnetic Flux

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Ronald L.; Falconer, David; Sterling, Alphonse; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

For each of six old bipolar active regions, we present and interpret Yohkoh/SXT and SOHO/MDI observations of the development, over several days, of enhanced coronal heating in and around the old bipole in response to new magnetic flux emerge= within the old bipole. The observations show: 1. In each active region, new flux emerges in the equatorward side of the old bipole, around a lone remaining leading sunspot and/or on the equatorward end of the neutral line of the old bipole. 2. The emerging field is marked by intense internal coronal heating, and enhanced coronal heating occurs in extended loops stemming from the emergence site. 3. In five of the six cases, a "rooster tail" of coronal loops in the poleward extent of the old bipole also brightens in response to the flux emergence. 4. There are episodes of enhanced coronal heating in surrounding magnetic fields that are contiguous with the old bipole but are not directly connected to the emerging field. From these observations, we suggest that the accommodation of localized newly emerged flux within an old active region entails far reaching adjustments in the 3D magnetic field throughout the active region and in surrounding fields in which the active region is embedded, and that these adjustments produce the extensive enhanced coronal heating. We also note that the reason for the recurrence of flux emergence in old active regions may be that active region flux tends to emerge in giant-cell convection downflows. If so, the poleward "rooster tail" is a coronal flag of a long-lasting downflow in the convection zone. This work was funded by NASA's Office of Space Science through the Solar Physics Supporting Research and Technology Program and the Sun-Earth Connection Guest Investigator Program.

Contagious Weakness in an Elderly Couple with Neurologic Emergencies

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

affected, causing asphyxiation without ventilator support. Additional findings can include dry mouth , Figure 1. Home canned and processed goods in...specifically “nausea and vomiting, dysphagia, diplopia, dry mouth , and dilated and fixed pupils,” and to administer the antitoxin in consultation with...the intensive care unit ( ICU ) for observation. At that point, we were certain of botulism, given the symptoms in both patients. We contacted the

When and How Goals Are Contagious in Social Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palomares, Nicholas A.

2013-01-01

Goal contagion occurs when a perceiver interacts with a partner whose behavior implies he/she is pursuing a particular goal and the perceiver accurately infers and subsequently pursues the partner's goal. Goal contagion was assessed in conversations between unacquainted individuals. In 2 experiments, the ways in which goal specificity, inference…

Contagious Diseases in Competitive Sport: What Are the Risks?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorman, John M.

2000-01-01

Discusses fungal, bacterial, and viral infections that may strike athletes during competition, highlighting possible risks of hepatitis, herpes, and HIV. Athletes generally are more at risk off the playing field than while competing. Requiring immunizations against measles and hepatitis B prior to college admission would eliminate two diseases.…

9 CFR 122.4 - Suspension or revocation of permits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... contagion of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease of animals (including poultry). (b) In cases of wilfulness or where the public health, interest or safety so requires, however, the Secretary may...

9 CFR 122.4 - Suspension or revocation of permits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... contagion of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease of animals (including poultry). (b) In cases of wilfulness or where the public health, interest or safety so requires, however, the Secretary may...

9 CFR 122.4 - Suspension or revocation of permits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... contagion of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease of animals (including poultry). (b) In cases of wilfulness or where the public health, interest or safety so requires, however, the Secretary may...

9 CFR 122.4 - Suspension or revocation of permits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... contagion of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease of animals (including poultry). (b) In cases of wilfulness or where the public health, interest or safety so requires, however, the Secretary may...

9 CFR 122.4 - Suspension or revocation of permits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... contagion of any contagious, infectious or communicable disease of animals (including poultry). (b) In cases of wilfulness or where the public health, interest or safety so requires, however, the Secretary may...

History lessons.

PubMed

Metcalfe, Sarah

2013-08-01

There was a time when epidemics were solely the province of infectious diseases. Indeed, most dictionary definitions of the term refer first to contagious diseases that spread rapidly among a given population.

Flu Prevention and Treatment Tips

MedlinePlus

Flu Prevention and Treatment Tips Expert Information from Healthcare Professionals Who Specialize in the Care of Older Adults Influenza, or the “flu,” is a contagious respiratory illness. It can cause ...

Does Observation of Postural Imbalance Induce a Postural Reaction?

PubMed Central

Tia, Banty; Saimpont, Arnaud; Paizis, Christos; Mourey, France; Fadiga, Luciano; Pozzo, Thierry

2011-01-01

Background Several studies bring evidence that action observation elicits contagious responses during social interactions. However automatic imitative tendencies are generally inhibited and it remains unclear in which conditions mere action observation triggers motor behaviours. In this study, we addressed the question of contagious postural responses when observing human imbalance. Methodology/Principal Findings We recorded participants' body sway while they observed a fixation cross (control condition), an upright point-light display of a gymnast balancing on a rope, and the same point-light display presented upside down. Our results showed that, when the upright stimulus was displayed prior to the inverted one, centre of pressure area and antero-posterior path length were significantly greater in the upright condition compared to the control and upside down conditions. Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrate a contagious postural reaction suggesting a partial inefficiency of inhibitory processes. Further, kinematic information was sufficient to trigger this reaction. The difference recorded between the upright and upside down conditions indicates that the contagion effect was dependent on the integration of gravity constraints by body kinematics. Interestingly, the postural response was sensitive to habituation, and seemed to disappear when the observer was previously shown an inverted display. The motor contagion recorded here is consistent with previous work showing vegetative output during observation of an effortful movement and could indicate that lower level control facilitates contagion effects. PMID:21423622

Dual role of infections as risk factors for coronary heart disease.

PubMed

Pesonen, Erkki; Andsberg, Eva; Ohlin, Hans; Puolakkainen, Mirja; Rautelin, Hilpi; Sarna, Seppo; Persson, Kenneth

2007-06-01

The aim of the study was to explore whether exposure to microbial agents determines the prevalence of acute coronary events. Patients with unstable angina pectoris and myocardial infarction (N=335) and their paired controls were investigated. The subjects answered a questionnaire about their childhood contagious diseases: varicella, scarlet fever, measles, rubella, mononucleosis and mumps. Blood samples were taken for bacterial and viral serology. The odds ratio for CHD was highest in the upper quartile of the enterovirus (EV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Chlamydia pneumoniae HSP60 IgG antibody titers (1.86, p=0.001, 1.57, p<0.048 and 1.70, p=0.016, respectively). The antibody titers increased cumulatively the risk for CHD (odds ratios 1.89, 2.24, 3.92 and p-values <0.001, 0.001 and 0.047). Childhood contagious diseases (n=6) had a protecting effect against CHD (odds ratio 0.86, p=0.013). The risk for acute coronary events decreased significantly with increasing number of childhood contagious diseases (p=0.007). Infections have a dual role in the genesis of CHD. EV, HSV and C. pneumoniae heat shock protein 60 IgG antibodies are associated with increased risk for CHD. Protection from infections usually suffered during the childhood before the era of MMR vaccination may predispose the individual to CHD.

Chickenpox (image)

MedlinePlus

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, a member of the herpesvirus family. The same virus also causes herpes zoster, shingles, in adults. Chickenpox is extremely contagious, and can be spread by ...

Infectious mononucleosis #3 (image)

MedlinePlus

Infectious mononucleosis is caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. It is a viral infection causing high temperature, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. Infectious mononucleosis can be contagious if the infected person comes ...

[Behavior of Orf virus in permissive and nonpermissive systems].

PubMed

Büttner, M; Czerny, C P; Schumm, M

1995-04-01

Dogs were immunized i.m. with attenuated poxvirus vaccines (vaccinia virus, Orf-virus) and a bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) vaccine. After intradermal (i.d.) application of the vaccine viruses a specific delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction of the skin occurred only with vaccinia virus. The i.d. application of Orf-virus caused a short-term, non-specific inflammatory reaction of the skin, even in dogs not immunized with Orf-virus. Out of 30 sera from Orf-virus immunized beagles (n = 4) only eight were found reactive to Orf-virus in a competition ELISA. Three sera from dogs not Orf-virus immunized but skin-tested with the virus contained low antibody titers. Using indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) in flow cytometry, the existence of Orf-virus antigens was examined on the surface and in the cytoplasm of permissive (BFK and Vero)- and questionable permissive MDCK cells. The canine kidney MDCK cell line was found to be non-permissive for Orf-virus replication; the occurrence of an Orf-(ecthyma contagiosum) like disease in dogs is unlikely.

Tracing partners of patients with syphilis infection remains challenging: experience of Geneva Hospital.

PubMed

de Lorenzi, Caroline; Gayet-Ageron, Angèle; Girard-Strohbach, Martine; Toutous-Trellu, Laurence

2017-10-01

Syphilis has been reinstated on the list of notifiable diseases in Switzerland since 2006 and the active management of sexual partners is encouraged to avoid reinfection. However, contact tracing has yielded unsatisfactory results and the incidence of syphilis remains important, especially in high-risk populations. The aim of this study was to compare the proportions of notified sexual partners of patients diagnosed with syphilis by the laboratories of Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) with those diagnosed in private laboratories (non-HUG) and to assess the risk factors for no notification to sexual partners. All syphilis cases notified to the Office of the Surgeon General in Geneva (Switzerland) between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2013 were analysed. The proportions of partner notification (PN) between HUG and non-HUG laboratories were compared by Chi square test and the main risk factors for no notification to sexual partners were assessed by binomial log-linear regression. Among a total of 720 notifications reported, 244 cases were diagnosed with contagious syphilis stages and 263 with non-contagious stages (i.e. successfully treated patients with or late latent cases). Overall, PN was higher among contagious than non-contagious cases (58.4% versus 31.0%; p = 0.030) and it was significantly higher in the non-HUG compared to the HUG group (75.9% versus 50.0%, respectively; p < 0.001). Risk factors independently associated with no notification to sexual partners were the place of diagnosis (risk ratio [RR] 1.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-2.27 for HUG versus non-HUG, respectively), age >45 years (RR 1.36; 95% CI: 1.05-1.76) and if the patient had received treatment for syphilis (RR 1.91; 95% CI: 1.38-2.66). Our results illustrate the difficulty of contact tracing in syphilis infection and the necessity to improve this crucial part of sexually transmitted infection management.

TeensHealth: Q&A

MedlinePlus

... Does the Doctor Have to Examine My Testicles? Mononucleosis Can I Drink Alcohol If I Have Mono? ... an Asthma Flare-Up? What's the Difference Between Infectious and Contagious? What's the Difference Between a Treatment ...

Outsmarting Poison Ivy and Other Poisonous Plants

MedlinePlus

... Consumer Updates Outsmarting Poison Ivy and Other Poisonous Plants Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing options ... whitish-green fruits hang in loose clusters. Poison Plant Rashes Aren’t Contagious Poison ivy and other ...

Coxsackievirus Infections (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... The virus spreads easily in group settings like schools, childcare centers, and summer camps. People are most contagious the first week they're sick. In cooler climates, outbreaks most often happen in the summer and ...

Lyme Disease (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... spread to the nervous system, causing facial paralysis ( Bell's palsy ) or meningitis . The last stage of Lyme disease ... feeling back to normal within several weeks after treatment starts. Is Lyme Disease Contagious? Lyme disease is ...

8 CFR 253.1 - Parole.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., tuberculosis in any form, leprosy, or any dangerous contagious disease, or an alien crewman suspected of being... strictly in the public interest be paroled into the United States under the provisions of section 212(d)(5...

Pregnancy and Whooping Cough

MedlinePlus

... gov . Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir For Pregnant Women Whooping cough (pertussis) is a very contagious disease ... Getting Reimbursed for Tdap Vaccination Rationale: Why Vaccinate Pregnant Women? Vaccine Safety Vaccine Effectiveness Research Stay up to ...

Diabetes and Hepatitis B Vaccination

MedlinePlus

Diabetes and Hepatitis B Vaccination Information for Diabetes Educators What is hepatitis B? Hepatitis B is a contagious liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis B virus. When first infected, a person can develop ...

Ascariasis (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... adults. Ascariasis is common in warmer or tropical climates, particularly in developing nations, where it can affect large segments of the population. Ascariasis is rare in the United States, due to strict sanitation rules and regulations. Contagiousness ...

Avoiding the Flu

MedlinePlus

... of this page please turn Javascript on. Feature: Flu Avoiding the Flu Past Issues / Fall 2009 Table of Contents Children ... help avoid getting and passing on the flu. Influenza (Seasonal) The flu is a contagious respiratory illness ...

Eczema

MedlinePlus

Eczema is a term for several different types of skin swelling. Eczema is also called dermatitis. Most types cause dry, ... red, and to swell and itch even more. Eczema is not contagious. The cause is not known. ...

Whooping cough.

PubMed

Danthis, Michael

2014-05-13

The CPD article was relevant to my practice because most upper respiratory tract infections exhibit similar symptoms initially. It is essential to be able to diagnose whooping cough because it is an acute and highly contagious disease.

[The eagle and the louse: typhus in the Grand Army].

PubMed

Ducoulombier, Henri

2014-01-01

How is it that lice, such a common parasite, have shaken the Napoleonic empire? This paper, based on medical literature and on proven facts, is going to tell the history of such a "war pestilence", a "contagious typhus".

Antimicrobial resistance of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from dairy cows and genetic diversity of resistant isolates

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Staphylococcus aureus is a frequent and major contagious mastitis bacterial pathogen. The antibiotic treatment cure rates vary considerably from 4% to 92%. Staphylococcus aureus readily becomes resistant to antibiotics, resulting in persistent noncurable intramammary infection that usually results i...

Can Diabetes Be Prevented? (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... make someone sick if not treated. Can Type 1 Diabetes Be Prevented? Type 1 diabetes can't be ... else — like a virus — to get type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes isn't contagious, so kids and teens ...

Measles

MedlinePlus

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Measles KidsHealth / For Parents / Measles What's in this article? ... the Doctor? Print en español Sarampión What Is Measles? Measles is a very contagious respiratory infection. It ...

Molecular and serological in-herd prevalence of Anaplasma marginale infection in Texas cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bovine anaplasmosis is an infectious, non-contagious disease caused by the rickettsial pathogen Anaplasma marginale (A. marginale). The organism has a global distribution and infects erythrocytes, resulting in anemia, jaundice, fever, abortions and death. Once infected, animals remain carriers for l...

COMPARISON OF IN VITRO-CULTURED AND WILD-TYPE PERKINSUS MARINUS I: PATHOGEN VIRULENCE

EPA Science Inventory

Perkinsus marinus is a highly contagious pathogen of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica. Until recently, transmission studies have employed wild-type parasites isolated directly from infected oysters. Newly developed methods to propagate P. marinus in vitro have led to usin...

Contagious Ideas: Vulnerability, Epistemic Injustice and Counter-Terrorism in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Donnell, Aislinn

2018-01-01

The article addresses the implications of Prevent and Channel for epistemic justice. The first section outlines the background of Prevent. It draws upon Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd's concept of the collective imaginary, alongside Lorraine Code's concept of epistemologies of mastery, in order to outline some of the images and imaginaries that…

Senator Barbara Mikulski and the Contagious “Learning Bug” | Poster

Cancer.gov

Sen. Barbara Mikulski came to NIH on April 11 to say goodbye. Following this fall’s election, the longest-serving woman in congressional history will relinquish her Maryland Senate seat, bringing to a close a 40-year national political career in which she staunchly supported NIH and biomedical research.

32 CFR 728.79 - Employees of Federal contractors and subcontractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES Other Persons... nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided facilities...

32 CFR 728.79 - Employees of Federal contractors and subcontractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES Other Persons... nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided facilities...

32 CFR 728.79 - Employees of Federal contractors and subcontractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES Other Persons... nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided facilities...

32 CFR 728.79 - Employees of Federal contractors and subcontractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE FOR ELIGIBLE PERSONS AT NAVY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FACILITIES Other Persons... nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided facilities...

Scarlet fever.

PubMed

2016-04-27

Essential facts Scarlet fever is characterised by a rash that usually accompanies a sore throat and flushed cheeks. It is mainly a childhood illness. While this contagious disease rarely poses a danger to life today, outbreaks in the past led to many deaths.

Systemic foot-and-mouth disease vaccination in cattle promotes specific antibody secreting cells at the respiratory tract and triggers local anamnestic-compatible responses upon aerosol infection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting biungulate species. Commercial vaccines, formulated with inactivated whole FMD virus (FMDV) particles, are regularly used worldwide in regions recognized as free from the disease. Here, we studied the generation of antibody ...

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-19

classical swine fever , African swine fever , Rift Valley fever , Nipah virus, Hendra virus, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and Japanese...Preparedness, by Jim Monke. 2 Examples include influenza, plague, West Nile Virus, and Rift Valley Fever . 3 These diseases are sometimes referred to as foreign

Pigs immunized with a novel E2 subunit vaccine are protected from heterologous classical swine fever virus challenge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera is a highly contagious swineviral disease. CSF endemic countries have to use routine vaccination with modifiedlive virus (MLV) vaccines to prevent and control CSF. However, it is impossible toserologically differentiate MLV vaccinated pigs from...

Characterization of tlr-4 in fathead minnow challenged with columnaris (flavobacterium columnare) in an ultra-low flow system

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Columnaris disease, caused by the bacteria Flavobacterium columnare, is one of the most serious bacterial infections affecting the aquaculture industry today. Columnaris is transmitted horizontally from fish to fish. The disease is highly contagious and may be spread through contaminated nets, speci...

EXPERIMENTS ON THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PSEUDORABIES

PubMed Central

Shope, Richard E.

1935-01-01

Pseudorabies is a very fatal but non-contagious disease in cattle and the common laboratory animals. It is a relatively mild yet highly contagious disease in swine. It has been shown that in swine the nose serves both for the entrance and the exit of the virus. Furthermore, it has been observed that fatal pseudorabies infections in rabbits can be induced merely by bringing their abraded skin into contact with the noses of infected swine. The blood sera of swine on two farms where pseudorabies had occurred among the cattle were found to be capable of neutralizing pseudorabies virus. It is believed that in these instances the swine had a mild and unrecognized pseudorabies infection and transmitted their disease to the cattle with which they were associated, by transfer of the virus on their noses to the abraded skin of the cattle. PMID:19870404

[Organization of clinical care of North Fleet hospitals in XVIII century].

PubMed

Kostiuk, A V

2013-02-01

Clinical care of national navy hospitals was normed from reception of patients till hospital discharge. After admission to the hospital, patient got competent medical care and corresponding attendance. But the situation changed in XVIII century, period of wars. In conditions of war time hospitals were overcrowded with patients and wounded. The number of patients went beyond the bedspace. Deficit of vacant beds was supplied with the help of additional beds; deficit of medical staff was supplied with the help of participation of another medial staff. Huge number of patients with different diseases, including contagious diseases, conduced communication of contagious diseases inside the hospital. Diagnostics and methods of treatment of these diseases were not enough researched. Taking into account results of statistical analysis of data about the number of fatality cases (peace time--4-10%, war time--20%), we can make a conclusion that clinical care of national navy hospitals was satisfying.

Cholera, canals, and contagion: Rediscovering Dr. Beck's report.

PubMed

Tuite, Ashleigh R; Chan, Christina H; Fisman, David N

2011-08-01

Cholera first appeared in North America (in Montreal and Quebec) in 1832 and spread rapidly across the eastern half of the continent. The dispatch of American disease control experts to Lower Canada in anticipation of cholera's spread implies that medical professionals expected spread, possibly from contagion, even though the notion that cholera was contagious was disparaged in medical writings of the time, and would be until John Snow's landmark work in London in the 1850s. Snow's insights derived largely from his observations on spatial and temporal patterns of cholera cases. We discuss a document from the 1832 epidemic, the report of Dr. Lewis Beck to New York's Governor Throop, which anticipates Snow in presenting geospatial data that imply cholera's contagiousness. Beck shows that the movements of immigrants along the newly completed New York state canal system resulted in sequential cholera outbreaks along the canal's path. Although aware of the degree to which this suggested contagion, Beck argues strenuously against the contagiousness of cholera. We explore the social context of early nineteenth-century medicine that probably led Beck to disbelieve his own observations, and to favor a medical model inconsistent with his data. Themes that emerge from our inquiry include belief in disease as a physical manifestation of defective morality, stigmatization of the poor and immigrant groups, and reluctance to overturn prevailing medical models that themselves reflected the economic position of medical practitioners. We show that these themes continue to serve as obstacles to innovation in medical and public health practice today.

The nationalization of a disease: a paradigm?

PubMed

Soviero, D J

1986-01-01

The early history of the Federal involvement in Hansen's Disease reflects the history of the Public Health Service itself. As a young and aggressive institution, the Public Health Service sought out contagious, infectious diseases that threatened the public health. National resources and national coordination were needed to fight the likes of malaria, hookworm, or smallpox. The customary attack would consist of a field study, determination of the etiology, the method of transmission, and, then, perhaps, preventive measures. An eradication campaign would follow. Leprosy fit perfectly into the model--a disease of unknown etiology, an unknown method of transmission, thought to be highly contagious, and no known cure. The United States launched a major investigation in Hawaii, where the disease was prevalent and its victims conveniently segregated. The investigation failed. The Public Health Service then turned toward segregation and isolation as a way to fulfill its public health role. A bureaucracy was established around the idea that victims of leprosy must be incarcerated for the good of the public. The institutionalization of the Public Health Service and the philosophy upon which its treatment of leprosy was based proved difficult to change when researchers in the field made major scientific breakthroughs in the 1940s. The realization that the disease was only feebly contagious, activities of patient organizations, and pressure from the media and the Congress did not achieve as dramatic results as the sulfone drugs did. The Public Health Service moved, but slowly. What are the lessons in all of this?.

The nationalization of a disease: a paradigm?

PubMed Central

Soviero, D J

1986-01-01

The early history of the Federal involvement in Hansen's Disease reflects the history of the Public Health Service itself. As a young and aggressive institution, the Public Health Service sought out contagious, infectious diseases that threatened the public health. National resources and national coordination were needed to fight the likes of malaria, hookworm, or smallpox. The customary attack would consist of a field study, determination of the etiology, the method of transmission, and, then, perhaps, preventive measures. An eradication campaign would follow. Leprosy fit perfectly into the model--a disease of unknown etiology, an unknown method of transmission, thought to be highly contagious, and no known cure. The United States launched a major investigation in Hawaii, where the disease was prevalent and its victims conveniently segregated. The investigation failed. The Public Health Service then turned toward segregation and isolation as a way to fulfill its public health role. A bureaucracy was established around the idea that victims of leprosy must be incarcerated for the good of the public. The institutionalization of the Public Health Service and the philosophy upon which its treatment of leprosy was based proved difficult to change when researchers in the field made major scientific breakthroughs in the 1940s. The realization that the disease was only feebly contagious, activities of patient organizations, and pressure from the media and the Congress did not achieve as dramatic results as the sulfone drugs did. The Public Health Service moved, but slowly. What are the lessons in all of this?. Images p401-a p402-a p403-a PMID:3090606

Repeated exposure to 5D9, an inhibitor of 3D polymerase, effectively limits the replication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in host cells.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of livestock caused by a highly variable RNA virus that has seven serotypes and more than sixty subtypes. Both prophylactic and post-infection means of controlling the disease outbreak, including universally applicable vaccines and emergenc...

Whole-genome sequencing of genotype VI Newcastle disease viruses from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from wild pigeons reveals continuous evolution and previously unrecognized genetic diversity in the U.S.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) are highly contagious and cause disease in both wild birds and poultry. A pigeon-adapted variant of genotype VI NDV, often termed pigeon paramyxovirus 1, is commonly isolated from columbids in the United States and worldwide. Complete genomic characterizat...

Deletion of African swine fever virus Georgia 2007 virulence-associated gene 9GL (B119L) leads to virus attenuation in swine at low doses while inducing an effective protection against homologous challenge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the etiological agent of a contagious and often lethal viral disease of domestic pigs that has significant economic consequences for swine breeding. The control of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been hampered by the unavailability of vaccines. Experimental vaccines...

Treatment with interferon-alpha delays disease in swine infected with a highly virulent CSFV strain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Classical swine fever (CSF) is an economically significant, highly contagious swine disease. The etiological agent, CSF virus (CSFV), is an enveloped virus with a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome, classified as a member of the genus Pestivirus within the family Flaviviridae (Becher et al.,...

Framing Public Policy and Prevention of Chronic Violence in American Youths

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodge, Kenneth A.

2008-01-01

Metaphors can both inspire and mislead the public. Current metaphors for youth violence are inconsistent with scientific evidence about how chronic violence develops and evoke inaccurate or harmful reactions. Popular, problematic metaphors include "superpredator", "quarantining the contagious", "corrective surgery", "man as computer", "vaccine",…

Characterization of Newcastle disease viruses isolated from cormorant and gull species in the United States in 2010

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Newcastle disease virus (NDV), a member of the genus Avulavirus of the family Paramyxoviridae, is the causative agent of Newcastle disease (ND) a highly contagious disease that affects many species of birds and which frequently causes significant economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. V...

Newcastle Disease: Progress and gaps in the development of vaccines and diagnostic tools

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Newcastle disease (ND) is a contagious disease of birds that can have severe economic consequences for any poultry producer, including a serious impact on the international trade of poultry and eggs. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates are also called avian paramyxovirus serotype-1 isolates, but ...

9 CFR 92.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... and possessions of the United States. Vector-borne disease. A disease transmitted to an animal through... or capable of being carriers of those diseases or their arthropod vectors. Communicable disease. Any... susceptible animal from an infected animal, vector, inanimate source, or other sources. Contagious disease...

Evidence of subclinical foot-and-mouth disease virus infection in young calves born from clinically recovered cow under natural condition

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically important, transboundary viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. It is known that a chronic, asymptomatic FMD syndrome may occur subsequent to acute FMD in adult ruminants. However, neither asymptomatic nor persistent infection has...

Prevalence, transmission and impact of bovine leukosis in Michigan dairies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bovine leukosis, caused by infection with the retrovirus bovine leukemia virus (BLV), has been characterized as a contagious, but practically benign disease of the immune system. National Animal Health Monitoring Surveys in 1996 and 2007 indicate complacency has resulted in high prevalence of infect...

32 CFR 728.80 - U.S. Government employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE..., exclusive of nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided...

32 CFR 728.80 - U.S. Government employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE..., exclusive of nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided...

32 CFR 728.80 - U.S. Government employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE..., exclusive of nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided...

32 CFR 728.80 - U.S. Government employees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE..., exclusive of nervous, mental, or contagious diseases or those requiring domiciliary care. Routine dental care, other than dental prosthesis and orthodontia, is authorized on a space available basis provided...

CRISPR-Cas9, a tool to efficiently increase the development of recombinant African swine fever viruses

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever is a contagious and often lethal disease for domestic pigs with a significant economic impact on the swine industry. The etiological agent, African swine fever virus (ASFV), is a highly structurally complex double stranded DNA virus. No effective vaccines or antiviral treatment ...

Progressive adaptation of a Georgian isolate of African swine fever virus to vero cells leads to a gradual attenuation of virulence in swine corresponding to major changes of the viral genome

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a contagious and often lethal disease of feral and domestic swine. Experimental vaccines derived from naturally occurring, genetically modified or cell culture-adapted ASFV have been evaluated but no commercial vaccine is available to control African Swine Fev...

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-04

example, research on Nipah virus must be performed in a BSL-4 laboratory. diagnostic capabilities for foreign animal and zoonotic diseases.”4 The...fever, African swine fever, Rift Valley fever, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and Japanese encephalitis.9 The DHS plans

African Swine Fever Virus Georgia isolate harboring deletions of 9GL and MGF360/505 genes in highly attenuated in swine but does not confer protection against parental virus challenge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) produces a contagious disease of domestic pigs that results in severe economic consequences to the swine industry. Control of the disease has been hampered by the unavailability of vaccines. We recently reported the development of two experimental vaccine strains (...

Deletion of the thymidine kinase gene induces complete attenuation of the Georgia isolate of African swine fever virus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the etiological agent of a contagious and often lethal viral disease of domestic pigs. There are no vaccines to control Africa swine fever (ASF). Experimental vaccines have been developed using genetically modified live attenuated ASFVs obtained by specifically de...

Split-remerge method for eliminating processing window artifacts in recursive hierarchical segmentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tilton, James C. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A method, computer readable storage, and apparatus for implementing recursive segmentation of data with spatial characteristics into regions including splitting-remerging of pixels with contagious region designations and a user controlled parameter for providing a preference for merging adjacent regions to eliminate window artifacts.

Marek's disease virus immunosuppression alters host cellular responses and immune gene expression in the skin of infected chickens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Marek’s disease (MD) is a highly contagious lymphoproliferative and neuropathic disease of chickens. The feather follicle epithelium (FFE) is the only anatomical site within the host where infectious enveloped cell-free MD virus (MDV) particles are produced and disseminated into the environment. MD ...

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-03

focus on foot and mouth disease (FMD), classical swine fever , African swine fever , Rift Valley fever , Nipah virus, Hendra virus, contagious bovine...Report RL32521, Agroterrorism: Threats and Preparedness, by Jim Monke. 2 Examples include influenza, plague, West Nile Virus, and Rift Valley Fever . 3

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-15

and mouth disease (FMD), classical swine fever , African swine fever , Rift Valley fever , Nipah virus, Hendra virus, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia...Preparedness, by Jim Monke. 2 Examples include influenza, plague, West Nile Virus, and Rift Valley Fever . 3 These diseases are sometimes referred to as

75 FR 75957 - Notice of Revision and Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-07

... Importation of Horses; Noncompetitive Entertainment Horses From Countries Affected With Contagious Equine... Equines Into the United States AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Revision... equines and to request extension of approval of the information collection to safeguard the health of the...

Development of a fluorescent ASFV strain that retains the ability to cause disease in swine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever is a contagious and often lethal disease for domestic pigs with a significant economic impact for the swine industry. The etiological agent, African swine fever virus (ASFV), is a highly structurally complex double strain DNA virus. No effective vaccines or antiviral treatment ar...

Simultaneous deletion of the 9GL and UK genes from the African swine fever virus Georgia 2007 isolate results in virus attenuation and may be a potential virus vaccine strain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) is the etiological agent of a contagious and often lethal viral disease of domestic pigs that has significant economic consequences for the swine industry. The control of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been hampered by the unavailability of vaccines. Successful experi...

African swine fever virus Georgia isolate harboring deletions of MGF360 and MGF505 genes is attenuated in swine and confers protection against challenge with the virulent parental virus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the etiological agent of a contagious and often lethal disease of domestic pigs that has significant economic consequences for the swine industry. The control of African Swine Fever (ASF) has been hampered by the unavailability of vaccines. Experimental vaccines h...

25 CFR 166.310 - What must a permittee do to protect livestock from exposure to disease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... exposure to disease? 166.310 Section 166.310 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... protect livestock from exposure to disease? In accordance with applicable law, permittees must: (a) Vaccinate livestock; (b) Treat all livestock exposed to or infected with contagious or infectious diseases...

9 CFR 71.14 - Slaughter of poultry or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. 71.14 Section 71.14 Animals... or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. When, in order to prevent the spread of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, it becomes necessary...

9 CFR 71.14 - Slaughter of poultry or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. 71.14 Section 71.14 Animals... or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. When, in order to prevent the spread of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, it becomes necessary...

Foot-and-mouth disease virus-associated abortion and vertical transmission following acute infection in cattle under natural conditions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and economically important viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic as well as more than 70 wild host species. During recent FMD outbreaks in India, spontaneous abortions were reported amongst FMD-affected and asymptomatic cows. T...

9 CFR 71.14 - Slaughter of poultry or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. 71.14 Section 71.14 Animals... or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. When, in order to prevent the spread of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, it becomes necessary...

25 CFR 166.310 - What must a permittee do to protect livestock from exposure to disease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... exposure to disease? 166.310 Section 166.310 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... protect livestock from exposure to disease? In accordance with applicable law, permittees must: (a) Vaccinate livestock; (b) Treat all livestock exposed to or infected with contagious or infectious diseases...

25 CFR 166.310 - What must a permittee do to protect livestock from exposure to disease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... exposure to disease? 166.310 Section 166.310 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... protect livestock from exposure to disease? In accordance with applicable law, permittees must: (a) Vaccinate livestock; (b) Treat all livestock exposed to or infected with contagious or infectious diseases...

9 CFR 71.14 - Slaughter of poultry or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. 71.14 Section 71.14 Animals... or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. When, in order to prevent the spread of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, it becomes necessary...

25 CFR 166.310 - What must a permittee do to protect livestock from exposure to disease?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... exposure to disease? 166.310 Section 166.310 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... protect livestock from exposure to disease? In accordance with applicable law, permittees must: (a) Vaccinate livestock; (b) Treat all livestock exposed to or infected with contagious or infectious diseases...

9 CFR 71.14 - Slaughter of poultry or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. 71.14 Section 71.14 Animals... or other animals to prevent spread of disease; ascertainment of value and compensation. When, in order to prevent the spread of any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease, it becomes necessary...

Managing brucellosis in wildlife costs more than expected benefits

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bovine brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease of cattle, elk, and bison which occurs in the U.S., primarily in the greater Yellowstone area (GYA) of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Brucellosis commonly causes infected pregnant animals to abort their calves. It can result in significant productio...

Construction of recombinant Newcastle disease virus expressing the S1 protein of Turkey enteric coronavirus for use as a bivalent vaccine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Turkey enteric coronavirus (TCoV) causes a contagious form of enteritis in turkeys, generally recognized in the field by outward signs including diarrhea and decreased weight gain, resulting in severe economic losses for the poultry industry in the US. To date there is no commercial vaccine availab...

Disinfection of foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever viruses with citric acid and sodium hypochlorite on birch wood carriers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Transboundary animal disease viruses such as foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and African swine fever virus (ASFV) are highly contagious and cause severe morbidity and mortality in livestock. Proper disinfection during an outbreak can help prevent virus spread and will shorten the time for contam...

Newcastle disease virus detection and differentiation from avian influenza

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Newcastle disease (ND) is a contagious and often fatal disease that affects over 250 bird species worldwide, and is caused by infection with virulent strains of avian paramyxovirus-1 (APMV-1) of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Avulavirus. Infections of poultry with virulent strains of APMV-1 (New...

Foot-and-mouth disease vaccines

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals. This disease has affected most areas of the world, often causing extensive epizootics in livestock, mostly farmed cattle and swine, although sheep, goats and many wild species are also susceptible...

Bordetellosis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bordetellosis, also known as turkey coryza, is an acute, highly contagious disease of the upper respiratory tract of young turkeys. In the 1980’s, following initial disagreement as to the etiology, the bacterium Bordetella avium was proven to be the causative agent. Mortality in uncomplicated outb...

Next Generation Bioweapons: The Technology of Genetic Engineering Applied to Biowarfare and Bioterrorism

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-01

immediately start spreading contagious diseases. By that time, many people will likely be hundreds of miles away from where they were originally...Dennis, 232-235. 36 . . . Next Generation Bioweapons 104. Jose B. Cibelli, Robert P. Lanza and Michael D. West, with Carol Ezzell , “The First

STD Symptoms: Common STDs and Their Symptoms

MedlinePlus

... groin. In some cases, the infection can be active and contagious even when sores aren't present. HPV infection is one of the most common types of STIs. Some forms put women at high risk of cervical cancer. Other forms cause genital warts. HPV usually has ...

Comparative genome analysis of an avirulent and two virulent strains of avian Pasteurella multocida reveals candidate genes involved in fitness and pathogenicity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Fowl cholera is a highly contagious systemic disease affecting wild and domestic birds, frequently resulting in high morbidity and mortality. The causative agent is Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida). The completed genome of P. multocida strain Pm70 has been available for over eleven years and has...

Early detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus from infected cattle using a dry filter air sampling system

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious livestock disease of high economic impact. Early detection of FMD virus (FMDV) is fundamental for rapid outbreak control. Air sampling collection has been demonstrated as a useful technique for detection of FMDV RNA in infected animals, related to ...

Assessing the Threat of Infectious Disease to the Biosecurity of the United States

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-10

in some cases , such as measles, the disease organism is highly contagious and can intensify an epidemic amongst an unvaccinated population. This... case , globalization may aid in the spread of disease by increasing the amount of contact between people within an endemic region. 2. Are there any

Foot-and-mouth disease: global status and Indian perspective

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious and transboundary viral disease of domesticated and wild cloven-hoofed animals. Wide prevalence of the disease in Asia and Africa associated with huge economic loss to the livestock farming and industry has increased the concern worldwide. The di...

SNP discovery and development of genetic markers for mapping immune response genes in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in immune response genes have been reported as markers for susceptibility to infectious diseases in human and livestock. A disease caused by cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is highly contagious and virulent in common carp (Cyprinus carpio). With the aim to de...

Citrus-derived oils inhibit Satphylococcus aureus growth and alter its interaction with bovine mammary cells

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This experiment examined the effects of cold-pressed, terpeneless citrus oil (CDO) on growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which a major cause of contagious bovine mastitis, and invasion of epithelial cells as modeled with bovine mammary cells (MAC-T). The broth dilution method (Muthaiyan et al., 2012)...

Exercise contagion in a global social network.

PubMed

Aral, Sinan; Nicolaides, Christos

2017-04-18

We leveraged exogenous variation in weather patterns across geographies to identify social contagion in exercise behaviours across a global social network. We estimated these contagion effects by combining daily global weather data, which creates exogenous variation in running among friends, with data on the network ties and daily exercise patterns of ∼1.1M individuals who ran over 350M km in a global social network over 5 years. Here we show that exercise is socially contagious and that its contagiousness varies with the relative activity of and gender relationships between friends. Less active runners influence more active runners, but not the reverse. Both men and women influence men, while only women influence other women. While the Embeddedness and Structural Diversity theories of social contagion explain the influence effects we observe, the Complex Contagion theory does not. These results suggest interventions that account for social contagion will spread behaviour change more effectively.

Can Mixed-Species Groups Reduce Individual Parasite Load? A Field Test with Two Closely Related Poeciliid Fishes (Poecilia reticulata and Poecilia picta)

PubMed Central

Dargent, Felipe; Torres-Dowdall, Julián; Scott, Marilyn E.; Ramnarine, Indar; Fussmann, Gregor F.

2013-01-01

Predation and parasitism are two of the most important sources of mortality in nature. By forming groups, individuals can gain protection against predators but may increase their risk of being infected with contagious parasites. Animals might resolve this conflict by forming mixed-species groups thereby reducing the costs associated with parasites through a relative decrease in available hosts. We tested this hypothesis in a system with two closely related poeciliid fishes (Poecilia reticulata and Poecilia picta) and their host-specific monogenean ectoparasites (Gyrodactylus spp.) in Trinidad. Fish from three different rivers were sampled from single and mixed-species groups, measured and scanned for Gyrodactylus. The presence and abundance of Gyrodactylus were lower when fish of both species were part of mixed-species groups relative to single-species groups. This is consistent with the hypothesis that mixed-species groups provide a level of protection against contagious parasites. We discuss the importance of potentially confounding factors such as salinity and individual fish size. PMID:23437237

Mother Nature versus human nature: public compliance with evacuation and quarantine.

PubMed

Manuell, Mary-Elise; Cukor, Jeffrey

2011-04-01

Effectively controlling the spread of contagious illnesses has become a critical focus of disaster planning. It is likely that quarantine will be a key part of the overall public health strategy utilised during a pandemic, an act of bioterrorism or other emergencies involving contagious agents. While the United States lacks recent experience of large-scale quarantines, it has considerable accumulated experience of large-scale evacuations. Risk perception, life circumstance, work-related issues, and the opinions of influential family, friends and credible public spokespersons all play a role in determining compliance with an evacuation order. Although the comparison is not reported elsewhere to our knowledge, this review of the principal factors affecting compliance with evacuations demonstrates many similarities with those likely to occur during a quarantine. Accurate identification and understanding of barriers to compliance allows for improved planning to protect the public more effectively. © 2011 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2011.

Canine transmissible venereal tumour: a review.

PubMed

Ganguly, B; Das, U; Das, A K

2016-03-01

Canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is a contagious venereal tumour of dogs, commonly observed in dogs that are in close contact with one another, or in stray and wild dogs that exhibit unrestrained sexual activity. CTVT represents a unique, naturally transmissible, contagious tumour, where the mutated tumour cell itself is the causative agent and perpetuates as a parasitic allograft in the host. Clinical history, signalment and cytological features are often obvious for establishing a diagnosis though biopsy and histological examination may be needed in atypical cases. Most cases are curable with three intravenous injections of vincristine sulphate at weekly intervals. The role of stray and wild dogs makes the disease difficult to control and necessitates sustained animal birth control in stray dogs along with prompt therapy of the affected dogs. This review captures the manifold developments in different areas embracing this fascinating tumour, including its biology, diagnosis and therapeutic alternatives. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Respiratory-borne Disease Outbreaks in Populations: Contact Networks and the Spread of Disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pourbohloul, Babak; Meyers, Lauren A.; Newman, Mark E. J.; Skowronski, Danuta M.

2005-03-01

A large class of infectious diseases spread through direct person-to-person contact. Traditional ``compartmental'' modeling in epidemiology assumes that in population groups every individual has an equal chance of spreading the disease to every other. The patterns of these contacts, however, tend to be highly heterogeneous. Explicit models of the patterns of contact among individuals in a community, contact network models, underlie a powerful approach to predicting and controlling the spread of such infectious disease and provide detailed and valuable insight into the fate and control of an outbreak. We use contact network epidemiology to predict the impact of various control policies for both a mildly contagious disease such as SARS and a more highly contagious disease such as smallpox. We demonstrate how integrating these tools into public health decision-making should facilitate more rational strategies for managing newly emerging diseases, bioterrorism and pandemic influenza in situations where empirical data are not yet available to guide decision making.

Suicidal Disclosures among Friends: Using Social Network Data to Understand Suicide Contagion*

PubMed Central

Mueller, Anna S.; Abrutyn, Seth

2015-01-01

A robust literature suggests that suicide is socially contagious; however, we know little about how and why suicide spreads. Using network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examine the effects of alter’s (1) disclosed and (2) undisclosed suicide attempts, (3) suicide ideation and (4) emotional distress on ego’s mental health one year later to gain insights into the emotional and cultural mechanisms that underlie suicide contagion. We find that when egos know about alter’s suicide attempt, they report significantly higher levels of emotional distress and are more likely to report suicidality, net of extensive controls; however, alter’s undisclosed suicide attempts and ideation have no significant effect on ego’s mental health. Finally, we find evidence that emotional distress is contagious in adolescence, though it does not seem to promote suicidality. We discuss the implications of our findings for suicide contagion specifically and sociology more generally. PMID:25722129

Acute gastroenteritis and video camera surveillance: a cruise ship case report.

PubMed

Diskin, Arthur L; Caro, Gina M; Dahl, Eilif

2014-01-01

A 'faecal accident' was discovered in front of a passenger cabin of a cruise ship. After proper cleaning of the area the passenger was approached, but denied having any gastrointestinal symptoms. However, when confronted with surveillance camera evidence, she admitted having the accident and even bringing the towel stained with diarrhoea back to the pool towels bin. She was isolated until the next port where she was disembarked. Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) caused by Norovirus is very contagious and easily transmitted from person to person on cruise ships. The main purpose of isolation is to avoid public vomiting and faecal accidents. To quickly identify and isolate contagious passengers and crew and ensure their compliance are key elements in outbreak prevention and control, but this is difficult if ill persons deny symptoms. All passenger ships visiting US ports now have surveillance video cameras, which under certain circumstances can assist in finding potential index cases for AGE outbreaks.

Ovine pedomics: the first study of the ovine foot 16S rRNA-based microbiome

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We report the first study of the bacterial microbiome of ovine interdigital skin based on 16S rRNA by pyrosequencing and conventional cloning with Sanger-sequencing. Ovine foot rot is an infectious, contagious disease of sheep that causes severe lameness and economic loss from decreased flock produc...

Foot-and-mouth disease

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. An outbreak of FMD can have a significant economic impact because of the restrictions on international trade of susceptible animals and their products with FMD-free countries. In this chapter we discuss vario...

The National Guard in the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, 1898-1899

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-17

of the volunteer regiments had typhoid fever cases within two months of moving into camps at both the federal and state levels. Secretary Alger also...medicine and military preventive health. Interestingly, doctors had not yet identified that typhoid fever was contagious, so even though they took all the

25 CFR 167.15 - Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and introduction of... NAVAJO GRAZING REGULATIONS § 167.15 Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock. (a) The... contagious or infectious disease in the economic interest of the Navajo stock owners. Upon the recommendation...

25 CFR 168.15 - Control of livestock diseases and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Control of livestock diseases and parasites. 168.15... REGULATIONS FOR THE HOPI PARTITIONED LANDS AREA § 168.15 Control of livestock diseases and parasites. Whenever livestock within the Hopi Partitioned Lands become infected with contagious or infectious diseases or...

25 CFR 700.723 - Control of livestock disease and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and parasites. 700.723... RELOCATION PROCEDURES New Lands Grazing § 700.723 Control of livestock disease and parasites. Whenever livestock within the New Lands become infected with contagious or infectious disease or parasites or have...

25 CFR 167.15 - Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and introduction of... NAVAJO GRAZING REGULATIONS § 167.15 Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock. (a) The... contagious or infectious disease in the economic interest of the Navajo stock owners. Upon the recommendation...

25 CFR 168.15 - Control of livestock diseases and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Control of livestock diseases and parasites. 168.15... REGULATIONS FOR THE HOPI PARTITIONED LANDS AREA § 168.15 Control of livestock diseases and parasites. Whenever livestock within the Hopi Partitioned Lands become infected with contagious or infectious diseases or...

25 CFR 700.723 - Control of livestock disease and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and parasites. 700.723... RELOCATION PROCEDURES New Lands Grazing § 700.723 Control of livestock disease and parasites. Whenever livestock within the New Lands become infected with contagious or infectious disease or parasites or have...

9 CFR 93.416 - Appearance of disease among ruminants in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Appearance of disease among ruminants... disease among ruminants in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among ruminants during the... the Administrator may direct, depending upon the nature of the disease. Canada 8 8 Importations from...

9 CFR 93.416 - Appearance of disease among ruminants in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Appearance of disease among ruminants... disease among ruminants in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among ruminants during the... the Administrator may direct, depending upon the nature of the disease. Canada 8 8 Importations from...

9 CFR 93.213 - Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Appearance of disease among poultry in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Poultry § 93.213 Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among poultry during the quarantine period...

9 CFR 93.213 - Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Appearance of disease among poultry in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Poultry § 93.213 Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among poultry during the quarantine period...

25 CFR 168.15 - Control of livestock diseases and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Control of livestock diseases and parasites. 168.15... REGULATIONS FOR THE HOPI PARTITIONED LANDS AREA § 168.15 Control of livestock diseases and parasites. Whenever livestock within the Hopi Partitioned Lands become infected with contagious or infectious diseases or...

25 CFR 700.723 - Control of livestock disease and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and parasites. 700.723... RELOCATION PROCEDURES New Lands Grazing § 700.723 Control of livestock disease and parasites. Whenever livestock within the New Lands become infected with contagious or infectious disease or parasites or have...

9 CFR 93.416 - Appearance of disease among ruminants in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Appearance of disease among ruminants... disease among ruminants in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among ruminants during the... the Administrator may direct, depending upon the nature of the disease. Canada 8 8 Importations from...

25 CFR 700.723 - Control of livestock disease and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and parasites. 700.723... RELOCATION PROCEDURES New Lands Grazing § 700.723 Control of livestock disease and parasites. Whenever livestock within the New Lands become infected with contagious or infectious disease or parasites or have...

25 CFR 167.15 - Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and introduction of... NAVAJO GRAZING REGULATIONS § 167.15 Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock. (a) The... contagious or infectious disease in the economic interest of the Navajo stock owners. Upon the recommendation...

9 CFR 93.416 - Appearance of disease among ruminants in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Appearance of disease among ruminants... disease among ruminants in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among ruminants during the... the Administrator may direct, depending upon the nature of the disease. Canada 8 8 Importations from...

25 CFR 167.15 - Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and introduction of... NAVAJO GRAZING REGULATIONS § 167.15 Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock. (a) The... contagious or infectious disease in the economic interest of the Navajo stock owners. Upon the recommendation...

25 CFR 168.15 - Control of livestock diseases and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true Control of livestock diseases and parasites. 168.15... REGULATIONS FOR THE HOPI PARTITIONED LANDS AREA § 168.15 Control of livestock diseases and parasites. Whenever livestock within the Hopi Partitioned Lands become infected with contagious or infectious diseases or...

25 CFR 168.15 - Control of livestock diseases and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Control of livestock diseases and parasites. 168.15... REGULATIONS FOR THE HOPI PARTITIONED LANDS AREA § 168.15 Control of livestock diseases and parasites. Whenever livestock within the Hopi Partitioned Lands become infected with contagious or infectious diseases or...

9 CFR 93.416 - Appearance of disease among ruminants in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Appearance of disease among ruminants... disease among ruminants in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among ruminants during the... the Administrator may direct, depending upon the nature of the disease. Canada 8 8 Importations from...

25 CFR 700.723 - Control of livestock disease and parasites.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Control of livestock disease and parasites. 700.723... RELOCATION PROCEDURES New Lands Grazing § 700.723 Control of livestock disease and parasites. Whenever livestock within the New Lands become infected with contagious or infectious disease or parasites or have...

9 CFR 93.213 - Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Appearance of disease among poultry in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Poultry § 93.213 Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among poultry during the quarantine period...

9 CFR 93.213 - Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Appearance of disease among poultry in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Poultry § 93.213 Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among poultry during the quarantine period...

9 CFR 93.213 - Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Appearance of disease among poultry in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Poultry § 93.213 Appearance of disease among poultry in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among poultry during the quarantine period...

Springer index of viruses, 2nd edition chapter - Aphthovirus, Picornaviridae

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. An outbreak of FMD can have a significant economic impact because of the restrictions on international trade of susceptible animals and their products with FMD-free countries. The disease is controlled by sla...

An Ecological Study of Glee in Small Groups of Preschool Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherman, Lawrence W.

1975-01-01

Presents a description and analysis of group glee (joyful screaming, laughing and intense physical acts occurring in simultaneous bursts or in a contagious fashion), studied by means of videotapes of 596 formal lessons in a preschool. Information collected concerned occurrence, location, frequency and duration, teachers' responses, incidence of…

High Court's TB Ruling Probably Applies to AIDS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sendor, Benjamin

1987-01-01

Discusses a United States Supreme Court decision upholding Section 504 protection for an elementary school teacher fired due to recurrent tuberculosis. The school board may need to make reasonable accommodation for employees handicapped by contagious diseases. The Court might also interpret Section 504 as covering AIDS carriers. (MLH)

78 FR 8960 - Texas (Splenetic) Fever in Cattle

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-07

... is a contagious, infectious, and communicable disease of cattle that causes cattle to become weak and dehydrated and can cause death. Section 72.1 lists the scientific names for ticks capable of transmitting microscopic parasites (Babesia) that cause bovine babesiosis. We are amending the list by clarifying that...

Homodimerization of Marek's disease virus encoded Meq protein is not sufficient for transformation of lymphocytes in chicken

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Marek’s disease virus (MDV), the etiologic agent of Marek’s disease, is a potent oncogenic herpesvirus. MDV is highly contagious and elicits a rapid onset of malignant T-cell lymphomas in chickens within several weeks after infection. MDV codes for an oncoprotein, Meq, which shares resemblance wit...

An improved, rapid cELISA using a novel conserved 3B epitope for the serological diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) afflicts cloven-hoofed livestock and wildlife resulting in heavy economic losses due to loss of trade and recovery from disease. We developed a rapid, sensitive, and specific competitive ELISA to detect serum antibodies to FMDV. This new cELI...

Memes and Affinity Spaces: Some Implications for Policy and Digital Divides in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knobel, Michele

2006-01-01

This article focuses on the social practices of propagating and circulating memes within Internet environments as a significant dimension of cultural production and transmission. Memes (pronounced "meems") are contagious patterns of cultural information that are passed from mind to mind and which directly shape and transmit key actions and…

A colorimetric bioassay for high-througput and cost-effectively assessing anti-foot-and-mouth disease virus activity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus (FMDV) is one of the most contagious animal viruses and has a devastating effect on livestock industries if an outbreaks occurs, especially in FMD-free countries. The virus is very sensitive to inhibition by type I interferons. Currently, a reported assay to measure FM...

The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-10

bmbl5toc.htm]. 7 For example, research on Nipah virus must be performed in a BSL-4 laboratory. 8 71 Federal Register 3107-3109. agent characterization...African swine fever, Rift Valley fever, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and Japanese encephalitis.9 The DHS plans to

Affect in the "Communicative" Classroom: A Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acton, William

Recent research on affective variables and classroom second language learning suggests that: (1) affective variables are context-sensitive in at least two ways; (2) attitudes are contagious, and the general attitude of students can be influenced from various directions; (3) research in pragmatics, discourse analysis, and communicative functions…

Surface plasmon resonance biosensor for detection of feline calicivirus, a surrogate for norovirus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The human noroviruses are the most common non-bacterial cause of gastroenteritis and are responsible for as much as 50% of all gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. Norovirus (NoV), a single stranded RNA virus, is highly contagious with an infectious dose of less than 100 viral particles. While techn...

Overview of Classical Swine Fever (Hog Cholera, Classical Swine fever)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Classical swine fever is a contagious often fatal disease of pigs clinically characterized by high body temperature, lethargy, yellowish diarrhea, vomits and purple skin discoloration of ears, lower abdomen and legs. It was first described in the early 19th century in the USA. Later, a condition i...

Site-specific substitution (Q172R) in the VP1 protein of subclinical FMDV isolates collected in Vietnam

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals and the FMD virus (FMDV) has been shown to persist in some affected animals for months to years following the resolution of acute infection. Viral determinants of FMDV persistence have not been elucidated an...

Effect of foot-and-mouth disease virus infection on the frequency, phenotype and function of circulating dendritic cells in cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a highly contagious virus that causes one of the most devastating diseases in cloven-hoofed animals. Disease symptoms in FMDV-infected animals appear within 2 to 3 days of exposure. Dendritic cells (DC) play an essential role in protective immune responses agai...

Meaning of Muscular Dystrophy

MedlinePlus

... is very similar to Duchenne, except kids with Becker MD may not have problems until much later, when they're teenagers or adults. It takes a long time for their muscles to become weak. How Does a Kid Get Muscular Dystrophy? MD is not contagious (say: con-TAY-juss), ...

Vaccines: What You Need to Know

MedlinePlus

... childhood diseases and improving child mortality rates. For example, measles is one highly contagious disease for which we have a ... causes a high fever and rash, and about one of four people who gets measles ... loss, and in rarer cases, brain swelling and death. Mumps is known for ...

Candidate gene markers for selective breeding of CyHV-3-resistant common carp

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Common carp and koi producers around the world have suffered financial losses for a disease caused by cyprinid herpesvirus-3 (CyHV-3) also known as koi herpes virus (KHV). This disease is highly contagious and causes massive mortality to infected fish. Efforts to identify genetic resistance to the ...

SNP discovery and marker development for disease resistance candidate genes in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in immune response genes have been reported as markers of susceptibility to infectious diseases in human and livestock. A disease caused by cyprinid herpes virus 3 (CyHV-3) is highly contagious and virulent in common carp. With the aim to investigate the gene...

9 CFR 3.110 - Veterinary care.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Mammals Animal Health and Husbandry Standards § 3.110 Veterinary care. (a) Newly acquired marine mammals must be isolated from resident marine mammals. Animals with a known medical history must be isolated... sanitizing procedures. Any marine mammal exposed to a contagious animal must be evaluated by the attending...

Lumps, Bumps, and Things that Go Itch in Your Office!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLeod, Renee P.

2004-01-01

This article presents a short case presentation and differential diagnosis of impetigo, a common, contagious, superficial skin infection that is produced by streptococci, staphylococci, or a combination of both bacteria. There are two different clinical presentations: (1) bullous impetigo; and (2) nonbullous impetigo. For years, it was thought…

Mononucleosis (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... Signs & Symptoms Mono and Sports Complications Prevention and Treatment Print About Mononucleosis Kids and teens with mononucleosis (mono) can have ... Is Mono Spread? How Long Is Mono Contagious? Mononucleosis Spleen and Lymphatic ... only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor. © 1995- The Nemours Foundation. All ...

The L83L ORF of African swine fever virus strain Georgia encodes for a non-essential gene that interacts with host protein IL-1ß

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a contagious and frequently lethal disease of pigs that produces significant economic consequences to the swine industry. ASFV genome encodes for more than 150 genes, but only a few of them have been studied in detail. Here we report the characterization of op...

An agent-based approach for modeling dynamics of contagious disease spread

PubMed Central

Perez, Liliana; Dragicevic, Suzana

2009-01-01

Background The propagation of communicable diseases through a population is an inherent spatial and temporal process of great importance for modern society. For this reason a spatially explicit epidemiologic model of infectious disease is proposed for a greater understanding of the disease's spatial diffusion through a network of human contacts. Objective The objective of this study is to develop an agent-based modelling approach the integrates geographic information systems (GIS) to simulate the spread of a communicable disease in an urban environment, as a result of individuals' interactions in a geospatial context. Methods The methodology for simulating spatiotemporal dynamics of communicable disease propagation is presented and the model is implemented using measles outbreak in an urban environment as a case study. Individuals in a closed population are explicitly represented by agents associated to places where they interact with other agents. They are endowed with mobility, through a transportation network allowing them to move between places within the urban environment, in order to represent the spatial heterogeneity and the complexity involved in infectious diseases diffusion. The model is implemented on georeferenced land use dataset from Metro Vancouver and makes use of census data sets from Statistics Canada for the municipality of Burnaby, BC, Canada study site. Results The results provide insights into the application of the model to calculate ratios of susceptible/infected in specific time frames and urban environments, due to its ability to depict the disease progression based on individuals' interactions. It is demonstrated that the dynamic spatial interactions within the population lead to high numbers of exposed individuals who perform stationary activities in areas after they have finished commuting. As a result, the sick individuals are concentrated in geographical locations like schools and universities. Conclusion The GIS-agent based model designed for this study can be easily customized to study the disease spread dynamics of any other communicable disease by simply adjusting the modeled disease timeline and/or the infection model and modifying the transmission process. This type of simulations can help to improve comprehension of disease spread dynamics and to take better steps towards the prevention and control of an epidemic outbreak. PMID:19656403

A deterministic model for highly contagious diseases: The case of varicella

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acedo, L.; Moraño, J.-A.; Santonja, F.-J.; Villanueva, R.-J.

2016-05-01

The classic nonlinear Kermack-McKendrick model based upon a system of differential equations has been widely applied to model the rise and fall of global pandemic and also seasonal epidemic by introducing a forced harmonic infectivity which would change throughout the year. These methods work well in their respective domains of applicability, and for certain diseases, but they fail when both seasonality and high infectivity are combined. In this paper we consider a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered, or SIR, model with two latent states to model the propagation and evolutionary history of varicella in humans. We show that infectivity can be calculated from real data and we find a nonstandard seasonal variation that cannot be fitted with a single harmonic. Moreover, we show that infectivity for the present strains of the virus has raised following a sigmoid function in a period of several centuries. This could allow the design of vaccination strategies and the study of the epidemiology of varicella and herpes zoster.

9 CFR 381.73 - Quarantine of diseased poultry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Quarantine of diseased poultry. 381.73 Section 381.73 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... Quarantine of diseased poultry. If live poultry, which is affected by any contagious disease which is...

9 CFR 381.73 - Quarantine of diseased poultry.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Quarantine of diseased poultry. 381.73 Section 381.73 Animals and Animal Products FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE... Quarantine of diseased poultry. If live poultry, which is affected by any contagious disease which is...

Health of the American Indian. Report of a Regional Task Force.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michal, Mary L.; And Others

Good health is the result of such factors as sanitation, adequate housing and clothing, nutritional food, and a health delivery system which protects against contagious diseases by immunization, provides for early detection and treatment, provides health education to promote practices that will prevent diseases, and gives services in a culturally…

The Ep152R ORF of African Swine Fever Virus strain Georgia encodes for an essential gene that interacts with host protein BAG6

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the etiological agent of a contagious and often lethal disease of domestic pigs that has significant economic consequences for the swine industry. The viral genome encodes for more than 150 genes, and only a select few have been studied in some detail. Here we rep...

9 CFR 93.313 - Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Appearance of disease among horses in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Horses § 93.313 Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among horses during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.515 - Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Appearance of disease among swine in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.515 Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among swine during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.313 - Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Appearance of disease among horses in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Horses § 93.313 Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among horses during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.515 - Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Appearance of disease among swine in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.515 Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among swine during the quarantine period special...

Poly ICLC increases the potency of a replication-defective human adenovirus vectored foot-and-mouth disease vaccine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes a highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals. We have previously demonstrated that a replication-defective human adenovirus 5 vector carrying the FMDV capsid coding region of serotype A24 Cruzeiro (Ad5-CI-A24-2B) protects swine and cattle against FM...

The Coast Artillery Journal. Volume 58, Number 1, January 1923

DTIC Science & Technology

1923-01-01

great majority of them were suffering from scabies which is a contagious disease. Furthermore, if returned too soon, the condition was very apt to recur...difficulty. Lacking properly trained officers in sufficient numbers, and our past history indicates that we always will lack it to a certain degree at least

Do Children Endorse Psychosocial Factors in the Transmission of Illness and Disgust?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raman, Lakshmi; Gelman, Susan A.

2008-01-01

The present studies examined beliefs concerning the impact of psychosocial factors in the transmission of contagious illness, injuries, and disgust. In Studies 1 and 2, participants ranging from preschoolers through adults judged the likelihood that a character would get sick (or injured) after being contaminated by another individual who was…

Infectious Diseases in Day Care.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sleator, Esther K.

Discussed in this publication are infectious illnesses for which children attending day care appear to be at special risk. Also covered are the common cold, some infectious disease problems receiving media attention, and some other annoying but not serious diseases, such as head lice, pinworms, and contagious skin conditions. Causes,…

9 CFR 93.313 - Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Appearance of disease among horses in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Horses § 93.313 Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among horses during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.313 - Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Appearance of disease among horses in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Horses § 93.313 Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among horses during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.515 - Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Appearance of disease among swine in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.515 Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among swine during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.313 - Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Appearance of disease among horses in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Horses § 93.313 Appearance of disease among horses in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among horses during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.515 - Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Appearance of disease among swine in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.515 Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among swine during the quarantine period special...

9 CFR 93.515 - Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Appearance of disease among swine in...; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.515 Appearance of disease among swine in quarantine. If any contagious disease appears among swine during the quarantine period special...

25 CFR 167.15 - Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2012-04-01 2011-04-01 true Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock... NAVAJO GRAZING REGULATIONS § 167.15 Control of livestock disease and introduction of livestock. (a) The... contagious or infectious disease in the economic interest of the Navajo stock owners. Upon the recommendation...

An adenovirus vectored mucosal adjuvant augments protection of mice immunized intranasally with an adenovirus-vectored foot-and-mouth disease virus subunit vaccine

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a highly contagious pathogen that causes severe morbidity and economic losses to the livestock industry in many countries. The oral and respiratory mucosae are the main ports of entry of FMDV, so the stimulation of local immunity in these tissues may help preve...

Nebraska's Live Stock Sanitary Commission and the Rise of American Progressivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amstutz, David Lee

2008-01-01

The state of Nebraska contributed to progressive thought in the 1880s. Like the other states in the Great Plains, Nebraska was heavily involved in the livestock industry. When contagious diseases threatened Nebraska's livestock, the state advocated a Federalist-Whig policy by requesting federal assistance. The national government's powers were…

9 CFR 93.405 - Health certificate for ruminants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... diseases; and provided further, that for sheep and goats, with respect to contagious pleuropneumonia, the... bovines, sheep, or goats from regions listed as BSE minimal-risk regions in § 94.18(a)(3) of this subchapter, the certificate must also include the name and address of the importer; the species, breed...

Molecular epidemiology of infectious laryngotracheitis: a review

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Falconid herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1) is the causative agent of falcon inclusion body disease, an acute, highly contagious disease of raptors. The complete nucleotide sequence of the genome of FHV-1 has been determined. The genome is arranged as a D-type genome with large inverted repeats flanking a ...

Molecular characterization of the complete genome of falconid herpesvirus strain S-18

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Falconid herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1) is the causative agent of falcon inclusion body disease, an acute, highly contagious disease of raptors. The complete nucleotide sequence of the genome of FHV-1 has been determined. The genome is arranged as a D-type genome with large inverted repeats flanking a ...

Control of foot-and-mouth disease by using replication-defective human adenoviruses to deliver vaccines and biotherapeutics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most contagious viral diseases that can affect cloven-hoofed livestock and wild animals. Outbreaks of FMD have caused devastating economic losses and the slaughter of millions of animals in many regions of the world affecting the food chain and global devel...

Effect of vaccination on cattle herds previously exposed to foot and mouth disease in Cameroon

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Foot and mouth disease (FMD), caused by FMD virus (FMDV), is one of the most contagious and economically important livestock diseases worldwide. Four serotypes of FMDV are endemic in Cameroon (O, A, SAT1, SAT2), and a trivalent inactivated vaccine against the three most common serotypes (O, A, SAT2)...

DNA vaccination elicits protective immune responses against pandemic and classic swine influenza viruses in pigs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Swine influenza is a highly contagious viral infection in pigs that significantly impacts the pork industry due to weight loss and secondary infections. There is also the potential of a significant public health threat, highlighted by the possibility that the 2009 H1N1 pandemic strain emerged from r...

Foot-and-mouth disease virus receptors: multiple gateways to initiate infection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Since its discovery over 100 years ago as the causative agent of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), research has been directed at understanding the biology of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) so as to be able to control this devastating and highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed livestock. Giv...

Identification of an NTPase motif in classical swine fever virus NS4B protein

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious and often fatal disease of swine caused by CSF virus (CSFV), a positive sense single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Pestivirus of the Flaviviridae family. Here, we have identified, within CSFV non-structural (NS) protein NS4B, conserved sequence el...

75 FR 65431 - Change in Disease Status of Japan Because of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-25

.... APHIS-2010-0077] Change in Disease Status of Japan Because of Foot-and-Mouth Disease AGENCY: Animal and... removing Japan from the list of regions considered to be free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and also from.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a severe and highly contagious viral...

Questions Come Alive. 2012 Annual Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smithsonian Institution, 2012

2012-01-01

At the Smithsonian, big questions are the common denominators that unite their museums, research centers, and programs. And curiosity is contagious. Today's small child who looks in awe at the big dinosaurs that once roamed the earth and wonders, "What happened?" might just be tomorrow's paleontologist. Among this year's stories is a…

9 CFR 53.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., contagious pleuropneumonia, exotic Newcastle disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza, infectious salmon... influenza. (1) Any influenza virus that kills at least 75 percent of eight 4- to 6-week-old susceptible... pathogenic avian influenza viruses; or (3) Any influenza virus that is not an H5 or H7 subtype and that kills...

9 CFR 53.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., contagious pleuropneumonia, exotic Newcastle disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza, infectious salmon... influenza. (1) Any influenza virus that kills at least 75 percent of eight 4- to 6-week-old susceptible... pathogenic avian influenza viruses; or (3) Any influenza virus that is not an H5 or H7 subtype and that kills...

9 CFR 53.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., contagious pleuropneumonia, exotic Newcastle disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza, infectious salmon... influenza. (1) Any influenza virus that kills at least 75 percent of eight 4- to 6-week-old susceptible... pathogenic avian influenza viruses; or (3) Any influenza virus that is not an H5 or H7 subtype and that kills...

A Review of Measles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dardis, Melissa R.

2012-01-01

Measles, once a common childhood illness that many older school nurses could recognize without difficulty, needs review again after reemerging from Europe and other continents. A highly contagious disease, which has been referenced since the seventh century, the virus can cause serious illness and death, despite the fact that it is vaccine…

Fun with Handwashing Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geiger, Brian F.; Artz, Lynn; Petri, Cynthia J.; Winnail, Scott D.; Mason, J. Walter

Noting that primary prevention of contagious diseases includes teaching young children and their caregivers about personal hygiene behavior, this paper presents a lesson for teaching handwashing to young children in preschool and early elementary grades using a variety of fun and low-cost techniques. The learning objectives for the lesson are that…

Cross-scale analysis of fire regimes

Treesearch

Donald A. Falk; Carol Miller; Donald McKenzie; Anne E. Black

2007-01-01

Cross-scale spatial and temporal perspectives are important for studying contagious landscape disturbances such as fire, which are controlled by myriad processes operating at different scales. We examine fire regimes in forests of western North America, focusing on how observed patterns of fire frequency change across spatial scales. To quantify changes in fire...

Transport of expiratory droplets in an aircraft cabin.

PubMed

Gupta, Jitendra K; Lin, Chao-Hsin; Chen, Qingyan

2011-02-01

The droplets exhaled by an index patient with infectious disease such as influenza or tuberculosis may be the carriers of contagious agents. Indoor environments such as the airliner cabins may be susceptible to infection from such airborne contagious agents. The present investigation computed the transport of the droplets exhaled by the index patient seated in the middle of a seven-row, twin-aisle, fully occupied cabin using the CFD simulations. The droplets exhaled were from a single cough, a single breath, and a 15-s talk of the index patient. The expiratory droplets were tracked by using Lagrangian method, and their evaporation was modeled. It was found that the bulk airflow pattern in the cabin played the most important role on the droplet transport. The droplets were contained in the row before, at, and after the index patient within 30 s and dispersed uniformly to all the seven rows in 4 minutes. The total airborne droplet fraction reduced to 48, 32, 20, and 12% after they entered the cabin for 1, 2, 3, and 4 min, respectively, because of the ventilation from the environmental control system. It is critical to predict the risk of airborne infection to take appropriate measures to control and mitigate the risk. Most of the studies in past either assume a homogenous distribution of contaminants or use steady-state conditions. The present study instead provides information on the transient movement of the droplets exhaled by an index passenger in an aircraft cabin. These droplets may contain active contagious agents and can be potent enough to cause infection. The findings can be used by medical professionals to estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of risk of infection to various passengers in the cabin. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Contagion of Cooperation in Static and Fluid Social Networks.

PubMed

Jordan, Jillian J; Rand, David G; Arbesman, Samuel; Fowler, James H; Christakis, Nicholas A

2013-01-01

Cooperation is essential for successful human societies. Thus, understanding how cooperative and selfish behaviors spread from person to person is a topic of theoretical and practical importance. Previous laboratory experiments provide clear evidence of social contagion in the domain of cooperation, both in fixed networks and in randomly shuffled networks, but leave open the possibility of asymmetries in the spread of cooperative and selfish behaviors. Additionally, many real human interaction structures are dynamic: we often have control over whom we interact with. Dynamic networks may differ importantly in the goals and strategic considerations they promote, and thus the question of how cooperative and selfish behaviors spread in dynamic networks remains open. Here, we address these questions with data from a social dilemma laboratory experiment. We measure the contagion of both cooperative and selfish behavior over time across three different network structures that vary in the extent to which they afford individuals control over their network ties. We find that in relatively fixed networks, both cooperative and selfish behaviors are contagious. In contrast, in more dynamic networks, selfish behavior is contagious, but cooperative behavior is not: subjects are fairly likely to switch to cooperation regardless of the behavior of their neighbors. We hypothesize that this insensitivity to the behavior of neighbors in dynamic networks is the result of subjects' desire to attract new cooperative partners: even if many of one's current neighbors are defectors, it may still make sense to switch to cooperation. We further hypothesize that selfishness remains contagious in dynamic networks because of the well-documented willingness of cooperators to retaliate against selfishness, even when doing so is costly. These results shed light on the contagion of cooperative behavior in fixed and fluid networks, and have implications for influence-based interventions aiming at

12 CFR 4.62 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members of a minority group or by one or more women... the partnership interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members who are individuals with... illegal use of drugs nor an individual who has a currently contagious disease or infection and who, by...

12 CFR 4.62 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members of a minority group or by one or more women... the partnership interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members who are individuals with... illegal use of drugs nor an individual who has a currently contagious disease or infection and who, by...

12 CFR 4.62 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members of a minority group or by one or more women... the partnership interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members who are individuals with... illegal use of drugs nor an individual who has a currently contagious disease or infection and who, by...

12 CFR 4.62 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members of a minority group or by one or more women... the partnership interest must be unconditionally-owned by one or more members who are individuals with... illegal use of drugs nor an individual who has a currently contagious disease or infection and who, by...

Identification of loci associated with susceptibility to mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map) tissue infection in cattle

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Johne’s disease is a contagious bacterial infection of cattle caused by Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (Map). A previous genome-wide association analysis (GWAA) in Holstein cattle identified QTL on BTA3 and BTA9 that were highly associated (P < 5 × 10-7) and on BTA1, BTA16, and BTA21 that...

Agricultural Bioterrorism: A Federal Strategy to Meet the Threat

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

sickness* Anthrax Avian influenza* Foot and mouth disease* Bluetongue* Hog cholera/classical swine fever* Bovine spongiform encephalopathy* Ornithosis...Psittacocis Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia* Rinderpest* Lumpy skin disease* Trypanosomiasis Newcastle disease* Poxvirus Paratuberculosis/Johne’s...including the animal diseases Bovine Spongi- form Encephalopathy, as well as Hendrah and Nipah viruses.154 An ex- panded research initiative should

Can Digital Learning Transform Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finn, Chester E., Jr.; Horn, Michael B.

2013-01-01

The enthusiasm for digital learning is contagious. More than 2 million K-12 students are enrolled in online courses today, and research firm Ambient Insight projects that figure will hit 10 million by 2014. Will today's wave of technology inexorably change the face of schooling, or must school administrators first alter policy? This article…

Bloodborne Pathogens: HIV and HBV Contagion Risks at Camp.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skaros, Susan

1996-01-01

AIDS and hepatitis B are diseases caused by the viruses HIV and HBV, respectively, which are spread in blood and body fluids. HBV is 100 times more contagious than HIV. Diligent implementation of universal precautions, an exposure control plan, use of personal protective equipment, a vaccination program, and ongoing staff and camper education can…

[Syphilis].

PubMed

Dupin, N

2016-11-01

Syphilis is back since the beginning of this century. The epidemic affects mainly men having sex with men with a high proportion of HIV-infected patients. The classification of syphilis distinguishes early syphilis where patients are contagious (primary, secondary and early latent of less than one year) and late syphilis where patients are not (or less) contagious (late latent of more than one year and tertiary). The clinical presentation of syphilis has not changed. However, we must insist on the early forms of neurosyphilis, notably ophthalmic syphilis often under-diagnosed, as it affects the treatment. Serologic tests may be improved but are very helpful for the positive diagnosis and the follow-up after treatment. Treatment of early syphilis is based on one injection of benzathine benzyl penicillin G. Patients who have had syphilis must be regularly followed-up after treatment, as re-infections are common and are often asymptomatic. Copyright © 2016 Société nationale française de médecine interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Current management practices and interventions prioritised as part of a nationwide mastitis control plan

PubMed Central

Bradley, A. J.; Breen, J. E.; Hudson, C. D.; Green, M. J.

2016-01-01

The objectives of this study were to report performance and management data taken from a sample of UK dairy farms that have participated in the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Dairy Mastitis Control Plan (DMCP) and to identify important mastitis prevention practices that are not currently widely implemented. A total of 234 UK dairy herds were included in the study from which farm management and udder health data were collected. Herds were grouped according to their mastitis epidemiology and could be classed as (i) environmental dry period (EDP) (i.e. environmental pathogen with majority of infections being acquired during the dry period), (ii) environmental lactation (EL), (iii) contagious dry period (CDP) or (iv) contagious lactation (CL). The results of this study showed that many mastitis-related management practices that are generally considered to be important were not widely performed. A better understanding of those practices not widely adopted by UK dairy farmers at present may aid practitioners in identifying and overcoming potential barriers to improved mastitis control. PMID:26966249

Laser speckle decorrelation for fingerprint acquisition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schirripa Spagnolo, Giuseppe; Cozzella, Lorenzo

2012-09-01

Biometry is gaining popularity as a physical security approach in situations where a high level of security is necessary. Currently, biometric solutions are embedded in a very large and heterogeneous group of applications. One of the most sensible is for airport security access to boarding gates. More airports are introducing biometric solutions based on face, fingerprint or iris recognition for passenger identification. In particular, fingerprints are the most widely used biometric, and they are mandatorily included in electronic identification documents. One important issue, which is difficult to address in traditional fingerprint acquisition systems, is preventing contact between subsequent users; sebum, which can be a potential vector for contagious diseases. Currently, non-contact devices are used to overcome this problem. In this paper, a new contact device based on laser speckle decorrelation is presented. Our system has the advantage of being compact and low-cost compared with an actual contactless system, allowing enhancement of the sebum pattern imaging contrast in a simple and low-cost way. Furthermore, it avoids the spreading of contagious diseases.

The first report of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Iran.

PubMed

Zakian, Amir; Nouri, Mohammad; Kahroba, Houman; Mohammadian, Babak; Mokhber-Dezfouli, Mohammad-Reza

2016-08-01

In mid-July 2013, an outbreak of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) was observed in a herd of camels after they were imported from Kuwait to the Khuzestan province in southwest of Iran. The clinical signs of the affected animals included sudden death, fever, oral erosion, and ecthyma like lesions, yellowish diarrhea, pneumonia and respiratory distress, enlargement of lymph node, severe dehydration, dermatitis, ulcerative keratitis, and conjunctivitis. Necropsy findings included keratoconjunctivitis, congestion and consolidation of the lung, paleness of the liver, and enlargement and edema of lymph nodes. Histopathological exam revealed degeneration and acute hyperemia of the lungs, fatty change and necrotic foci in the liver, tubular necrosis in the kidneys, and necrotic dermatitis. We used immunocapture enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to confirm peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and differentiate it from rinderpest virus. Then virus genome was studied by molecular analysis for detecting of strain and substrain of the virus. Immunocapture ELISA of all specimens reacted positively against PPRV antigens. Also, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results in the lung and lymph nodes of the dead camels consolidated the cause of disease to be PPRV. The present study is the first report of the PPRV outbreak in camels in Iran.

The Natural

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClelland, Kate

2005-01-01

Caroline Ward's energetic enthusiasm for books and children is contagious. In 36 years of library service to children, no librarian, student, or child who has heard her tell a story, give a booktalk, lead a discussion group, or teach a children's literature class is likely to have forgotten the experience. While Ward is cheerfully offhand about…

Know and Share the Facts about Flu Vaccination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grohskopf, Lisa

2012-01-01

Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and sometimes can lead to death. Symptoms of flu can include fever or a feverish feeling, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headache, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea. Flu…

Searching for the Irresistible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dack, Hilary; Tomlinson, Carol Ann

2014-01-01

Engagement doesn't just happen. As much as teachers would like it if their own fascination with content were contagious for every student, it doesn't work that way. Engagement must be planned for. A teacher discovers what's engaging in the content and designs curriculum so students discover it too. The authors profile one teacher…

Dave Moore: Taking Roundabout Path to Perovskite Fast Track | News | NREL

Science.gov Websites

energy of academia is awesome and contagious. It keeps you young to hang around young people and keep learning." Although he'd had a checkered high school academic career prior to stepping on the college ," Moore said. "That's where I first learned about the energy crisis." And that's when he

AIDS: Education's New Dilemma.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeland, D. Kay; Faber, Charles F.

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an incurable, fatal disease that is caused by a virus that eventually destroys the body's immune system. While AIDS is contagious, the risk of contracting AIDS through casual contact is said to be negligible. A review of the court cases involving students with AIDS reveals that the precedent has…

Evaluation of Animal and Plant Pathogens as Terrorism and Warfare Agents, Vectors and Pests

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-09-01

fever virus Bluetongue virus African horse sickness virus Nipah swine encephalitis virus Lumpy skin disease virus Camel pox virus Bacteria Bacillus...anthracis Bulkholderia (Pseudomonas) mallei Brucella spp. Mycoplasmas Contagious bovine (pleuropneum.) (M. mycoides var. mycoides type SC) (CBPP...virus Newcastle disease virus Rinderpest virus Pest des petits ruminants virus Bluetongue virus Teschen disease virus (Porcine enterovirus type 1) Rift

World Epidemiology Review No. 99

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-08-02

by microbes Brucellosis, bacterial anthrax, symptomatic anthrax, aviary cholera, sheep pox, farcy in cattle, aphthous fever, bluetongue , heartwater...equine epizootic lymphangitis, Teschen’s disease, hemorrhagic septicemia, tuberculosis, rabies, equine and bovine plague, swine salmonellosis... bovine peripneumonia. 57 Some of these diseases, whose list is far from exhaustive, are infectious. Others are contagious, and finally, a certain number

Selective and contagious prosocial resource donation in capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees and humans

PubMed Central

Claidière, Nicolas; Whiten, Andrew; Mareno, Mary C.; Messer, Emily J. E.; Brosnan, Sarah F.; Hopper, Lydia M.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.; McGuigan, Nicola

2015-01-01

Prosocial acts benefitting others are widespread amongst humans. By contrast, chimpanzees have failed to demonstrate such a disposition in several studies, leading some authors to conclude that the forms of prosociality studied evolved in humans since our common ancestry. However, similar prosocial behavior has since been documented in other primates, such as capuchin monkeys. Here, applying the same methodology to humans, chimpanzees, and capuchins, we provide evidence that all three species will display prosocial behavior, but only in certain conditions. Fundamental forms of prosociality were age-dependent in children, conditional on self-beneficial resource distributions even at age seven, and conditional on social or resource configurations in chimpanzees and capuchins. We provide the first evidence that experience of conspecific companions' prosocial behavior facilitates prosocial behavior in children and chimpanzees. Prosocial actions were manifested in all three species following rules of contingency that may reflect strategically adaptive responses. PMID:25559658

[Contagious diseases in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War].

PubMed

Kiss, Gábor

2010-01-01

Before the WWI significantly more loss was caused to armies by various epidemies, than by weapons. Although as a result of development of medical sciences in the WWI this rate changed, the main epidemies namely cholera, malaria and trachoma still ravaged quite often. In spite of the fact, that alimentation of Austro-Hungarian soldiers gradually deteriorated during the war, so they fell victims more easily to diseases, the sanitary service successfully prevented outbreaks of larger epidemies.

76 FR 52547 - Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-23

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Part 93 [Docket No... AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Interim rule; delay of enforcement and... additional time to comment on the interim rule and provide the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service...

Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment.

PubMed

Pedersen, Vivi Bach; Jeppesen, Hans Jeppe

2012-08-01

Schedule flexibility defines an important generating resource for work-life enrichment; however, our knowledge about how such spillovers take place is limited. This multiple case study examines how workers from different working time contexts with varying levels of schedule flexibility experience work-life interplay. Given the adopted explorative design, it is important to interpret the findings in a tentative light. Nonetheless, the study offers important insight into work-life enrichment that may guide future research in this field. The findings indicate that schedule flexibility may act as a boundary-spanning resource owing to the agency potential it offers workers. Thus, it seemed that flexible schedule opportunities enabled workers to engage more fully in personal life activities, which in turn had a positive influence on their work involvement through positive affect. Such positive role engagements appeared, however, to be greatly determined by workers' boundary management and by time conditions of work and family. In conclusion, the major findings and limitation of the study are discussed against existing research and theory. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

78 FR 9577 - Importation of Horses From Contagious Equine Metritis-Affected Countries

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-11

... conduct regular training of testing officials and make unscheduled visits to animal import centers... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 9 CFR Part 93 [Docket No... AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: We are adopting as...

Bacterial diseases of the skin.

PubMed

Edlich, Richard F; Winters, Kathryne L; Britt, L D; Long, William B

2005-01-01

When considering common bacterial diseases of the skin, rather distinct clinical responses to a variety of bacterial infections have been identified. In these cases, it is the specific site of infection and the attendant inflammatory responses that provide the characteristic clinical picture. When the pyoderma extends just below the stratum corneum, it is called impetigo. Nonbullous impetigo is the most common pediatric skin infection. It usually starts in a traumatized area. The typical lesion begins as an erythematous papule, after which it becomes a unilocular vesicle. When the subcorneal vesicle becomes pustular, it ruptures and eventually becomes a yellow, golden crust that is a hallmark of the disease process. Bullous impetigo is a less common form of impetigo, accounting for fewer than 30% of all impetigo cases. It occurs in infants and is characterized by rapid progression of vesicles to the formation of bullae measuring larger than 5 mm in diameter in previously untraumatized skin. Treatment of nonbullous impetigo must include intervention against the pathogen as well as improvements in the hygiene and living conditions of the patient. A fundamental tenet is to debride the crust (scab) from the wound surface using poloxamer 188. If the lesions are not widespread, topical mupirocin is the treatment of choice. Treatment of bullous impetigo is similar, except that the local cleansing and topical antibiotic must be complemented by systemic antibiotics if there is evidence of disseminating infections. Ecthyma is usually a consequence of failure to treat effectively impetigo. The untreated infection extends deep into the tissue in shallow ulcerations that often heal without scar. Treatment for ecthyma usually requires systemic antibiotics against either staphylococcus or streptococcus. Folliculitis is a pyoderma located within a hair follicle, secondary to follicular occlusion by keratin, overhydration, or either bacterial or fungal infection. Folliculitis may

A Comparison of the Health Systems in China and India

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

some contagious diseases—such as hepatitis, pulmonary tuberculosis , and snail fever (schistosomiasis)—have revived; some endemic diseases, such as HIV... tuberculosis and malaria, have reemerged as greater public health concerns (Gupte, Ramachandran, and Mutatkar, 2001). Figure 2.2 Financial...diseases accounted for 77 percent of all deaths. Heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer accounted for approximately 67 percent of

Eleven years of itching: a case report of crusted scabies.

PubMed

Kutlu, Nurdan S; Turan, Enver; Erdemir, Asli; Gürel, Mehmet S; Bozkurt, Erol

2014-08-01

Crusted scabies is a rare and highly contagious form of scabies that is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of mites in the skin, extensive hyperkeratotic scaling, crusted lesions, and variable pruritus. We report the case of a 48-year-old man with an 11-year history of pruritic, hyperkeratotic, psoriasiform plaques and widespread erythematous papules that was diagnosed as crusted scabies.

A-equi-2 influenza in horses in the Republic of South Africa.

PubMed

Rogers, A L

1988-06-01

In early December 1986 A-equi-2 influenza virus was isolated for the first time in the Republic of South Africa. All horses were susceptible to the highly contagious aerosol-borne orthomyxovirus resulting in widespread outbreaks of equine influenza with typical primary respiratory symptoms. Treatment consisted of rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics and good nursing. Future protection can be obtained by vaccination.

Erosive-throat with rash (scarlet fever), an investigation on its brief history.

PubMed

Yu, Y

1998-07-01

Being a kind of epidemic contagious disease in modern time, erosive-throat with rash was a fatal disease causing numerous victims. High attention was paid to by traditional medical professionals through various fields, theoretical and clinical. A correct conclusion was reached claiming that TCM did make contributions to its prevention and treatment before effective treatment in western medicine appeared in China.

Quarantine, isolation, and cohorting: from cholera to Klebsiella.

PubMed

Rosenberger, Laura H; Riccio, Lin M; Campbell, Kristin Turza; Politano, Amani D; Sawyer, Robert G

2012-04-01

Isolation is defined as the separation of persons with communicable diseases from those who are healthy. This public health practice, along with quarantine, is used to limit the transmission of infectious diseases and provides the foundation of current-day cohorting. Review of the pertinent English-language literature. Mass isolation developed during the medieval Black Death outbreaks in order to protect ports from the transmission of epidemics. In the mid-1800s, infectious disease hospitals were opened. It now is clear that isolation and cohorting of patients and staff interrupts the transmission of disease. Over the next century, with the discovery of penicillin and vaccines against many infectious agents, the contagious disease hospitals began to close. Today, we find smaller outbreaks of microorganisms that have acquired substantial resistance to antimicrobial agents. In the resource-limited hospital, a dedicated area or region of a unit may suffice to separate affected from unaffected patients. Quarantine, or cohorting when patients are infected with the same pathogen, interrupts the spread of infections, just as the contagious disease hospitals did during the epidemics of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Being Moved by the Self and Others: Influence of Empathy on Self-Motion Perception

PubMed Central

Lopez, Christophe; Falconer, Caroline J.; Mast, Fred W.

2013-01-01

Background The observation of conspecifics influences our bodily perceptions and actions: Contagious yawning, contagious itching, or empathy for pain, are all examples of mechanisms based on resonance between our own body and others. While there is evidence for the involvement of the mirror neuron system in the processing of motor, auditory and tactile information, it has not yet been associated with the perception of self-motion. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated whether viewing our own body, the body of another, and an object in motion influences self-motion perception. We found a visual-vestibular congruency effect for self-motion perception when observing self and object motion, and a reduction in this effect when observing someone else's body motion. The congruency effect was correlated with empathy scores, revealing the importance of empathy in mirroring mechanisms. Conclusions/Significance The data show that vestibular perception is modulated by agent-specific mirroring mechanisms. The observation of conspecifics in motion is an essential component of social life, and self-motion perception is crucial for the distinction between the self and the other. Finally, our results hint at the presence of a “vestibular mirror neuron system”. PMID:23326302

Pediatric epstein-barr virus carriers with or without tonsillar enlargement may substantially contribute to spreading of the virus.

PubMed

Hug, Martina; Dorner, Marcus; Fröhlich, Franziska Zucol; Gysin, Claudine; Neuhaus, Diego; Nadal, David; Berger, Christoph

2010-10-15

Human-to-human transmission of the persistent infection establishing Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) occurs via saliva. Tonsils act as important portal of entry and exit of EBV. The contagiousness of pediatric EBV carriers and the role played by tonsillar enlargement (TE) are not known. We compared EBV shedding in mouthwash samples from pediatric EBV carriers with or without TE to that in mouthwash samples from pediatric patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM), the symptomatic form of primary infection if delayed after the age of 5 years. EBV DNA was quantified by polymerase chain reaction, and contagiousness was assessed using the cord lymphocyte transformation assay. EBV carriers with TE shed EBV DNA at an almost similar frequency (although in lower amounts) as pediatric patients with acute IM but more frequently (P <.001) and in higher amounts (P = .038) than EBV carriers without TE. EBV DNA levels in mouthwash samples from EBV carriers with TE mirrored levels in tonsils and gradually declined after tonsillectomy. Almost half of the mouthwash samples from pediatric EBV carriers contained infectious EBV. Pediatric EBV carriers--in particular, those with TE-may considerably contribute to the spreading of EBV in industrialized countries.

Atmospheric Spread of Foot-and-mouth Disease During The Early Phase of The Uk Epidemic 2001

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sørensen, J. H.; Mikkelsen, T.; Astrup, P.; Alexandersen, S.; Donaldson, A. I.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease in cloven-hoofed domesticated and wild animals. The highly contagious nature of FMD is a reflection of the wide range of species which are susceptible, the enormous quantities of virus liberated by infected animals, the range of excretions and secretions which can be infectious, the stability of the virus in the environment, the multiplicity of routes of infection and the very small doses of virus that can initiate infection in susceptible hosts. One of the routes for the spread of the disease is the atmospheric dispersion of virus exhaled by infected animals. Such spread can be rapid and extensive, and it is known in certain circumstances to have occurred over a distance of several hundred kilometres. For the FMD epidemic in UK in 2001, atmospheric dispersion models were applied in real time in order to describe the atmospheric dispersion of virus for the larger outbreaks of the disease. The operational value of such modelling is first of all to identify risk zones, which is helpful to the emergency management. The paper addresses the modelling techniques and presents results related with the epidemic in UK in 2001.

There's something about obesity: culture, contagion, rationality, and children's responses to drinks "created" by obese children.

PubMed

Klaczynski, Paul A

2008-01-01

Theories of the development of obesity stereotypes cannot easily explain the stigma associated with being obese. Evidence that important similarities exist between the symptoms of obesity and contagious illnesses, young children have "theories" of illnesses, and obesity stereotypes are among the earliest that children develop led to the hypothesis that children would find beverages purportedly created by obese children less tasteful and more memorable than beverages created by average weight children. After assignment to two story conditions in which a child became ill after eating an unfamiliar food, Caucasian-American and Chinese 7- and 10-year-olds sampled identically flavored "obese-created" and "average-created" beverages. Taste ratings were lower, ratings of the chances of feeling sick were higher, and memory was superior for obese-created drinks than for average-created drinks, particularly when the character in the story contracted a contagious illness and memory was scored for "gist." Finally, children often created the false memory that the story character was an obese beverage creator. The roles of contagion and magical beliefs are discussed, as are the rationality of children's responses and the relevance of the findings for theories of obesity stereotypes.

Transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome in dynamical small-world networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masuda, Naoki; Konno, Norio; Aihara, Kazuyuki

2004-03-01

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is still threatening the world because of a possible resurgence. In the current situation that effective medical treatments such as antiviral drugs are not discovered yet, dynamical features of the epidemics should be clarified for establishing strategies for tracing, quarantine, isolation, and regulating social behavior of the public at appropriate costs. Here we propose a network model for SARS epidemics and discuss why superspreaders emerged and why SARS spread especially in hospitals, which were key factors of the recent outbreak. We suggest that superspreaders are biologically contagious patients, and they may amplify the spreads by going to potentially contagious places such as hospitals. To avoid mass transmission in hospitals, it may be a good measure to treat suspected cases without hospitalizing them. Finally, we indicate that SARS probably propagates in small-world networks associated with human contacts and that the biological nature of individuals and social group properties are factors more important than the heterogeneous rates of social contacts among individuals. This is in marked contrast with epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases or computer viruses to which scale-free network models often apply.

United States Army Aeromedical Support to African Fliers, 1941 - 1949: The Tuskegee Flight Suregons

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-01

infectious diseases: upper respiratory infections (URIs), measles, mumps, chicken pox and other contagious diseases, malaria and venereal diseases...as campaigns in Cuba, the Philippines, Mexico and Nicaragua. However, neither the Air Corps nor its Medical Corps officers had much experience in...with live chickens , rabbits, steers and beef cattle from natives. One physician commented that the locals would rather trade for coffee, tea or

Design Process Overview

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Halkjaer-Knudsen, Vibeke

2014-11-01

For the purposes of this paper, a Biocontainment facility is a laboratory, production facility, or similar building that handles contagious biological materials in a safe and responsible manner. This specialized facility, also called a containment facility or a high containment facility reduces the potential for biological agents to be released into the environment, provides a safe work environment for the employees, and supports good laboratory practices.

Challenges of the Global Century: Report of the Project on Globalization and National Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-01-01

military and civilian leaders for service at the highest levels of national defense and security. The major components of NDU include the Industrial ...academic programs. In addition, it produces Joint Force Quarterly, a professional military journal published for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...shocks become contagious. In these circumstances, it can both arouse anger at industrial democracies and facili- tate the growth of international crime

Translations on Eastern Europe Political, Sociological, and Military Affairs No. 1384.

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-05-03

developments; information on general sociological problems and developments in such areas as demography , manpower, public health and welfare, education...as pioneers on the historically new path of socialism/communism, that these peoples have made the greatest sacrifices for proletarian solida- rity...74 average longevity reached 71.3 years. A declining morbidity trend exists for a number of contagious deseases. In the Sixth Five-Year Plan their

Prediction of Streptococcus uberis clinical mastitis risk using Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in dairy herds.

PubMed

Archer, Simon C; Bradley, Andrew J; Cooper, Selin; Davies, Peers L; Green, Martin J

2017-09-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the risk of Streptococcus uberis clinical mastitis at cow level could be predicted from the historical presence of specific strains of S. uberis on dairy farms. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry was used to identify S. uberis isolates potentially capable of contagious transmission. Data were available from 10,652 cows from 52 English and Welsh dairy farms over a 14 month period, and 521 isolates of S. uberis from clinical mastitis cases were available for analysis. As well as the temporal herd history of clinical mastitis associated with particular S. uberis strains, other exposure variables included cow parity, stage of lactation, milk yield, and somatic cell count. Observations were structured longitudinally as repeated weekly measures through the study period for each cow. Data were analyzed in a Bayesian framework using multilevel logistic regression models. Similarity of mass spectral profiles between isolates of S. uberis from consecutive clinical cases of mastitis in herds was used to indicate potential for contagious phenotypic characteristics. Cross validation showed that new isolates with these characteristics could be identified with an accuracy of 90% based on bacterial protein mass spectral characteristics alone. The cow-level risk in any week of these S. uberis clinical mastitis cases increased with the presence of the same specific strains of S. uberis in other cows in the herd during the previous 2 weeks. The final statistical model indicated there would be a 2-3 fold increase in the risk of S. uberis clinical mastitis associated with particular strains if these occurred in the herd 1 and 2 weeks previously. The results suggest that specific strains of S. uberis may be involved with contagious transmission, and predictions based on their occurrence could be used as an early warning surveillance system to enhance the control of S. uberis mastitis. Copyright �

Distributed micro-releases of bioterror pathogens : threat characterizations and epidemiology from uncertain patient observables.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolf, Michael M.; Marzouk, Youssef M.; Adams, Brian M.

2008-10-01

Terrorist attacks using an aerosolized pathogen preparation have gained credibility as a national security concern since the anthrax attacks of 2001. The ability to characterize the parameters of such attacks, i.e., to estimate the number of people infected, the time of infection, the average dose received, and the rate of disease spread in contemporary American society (for contagious diseases), is important when planning a medical response. For non-contagious diseases, we address the characterization problem by formulating a Bayesian inverse problem predicated on a short time-series of diagnosed patients exhibiting symptoms. To keep the approach relevant for response planning, we limitmore » ourselves to 3.5 days of data. In computational tests performed for anthrax, we usually find these observation windows sufficient, especially if the outbreak model employed in the inverse problem is accurate. For contagious diseases, we formulated a Bayesian inversion technique to infer both pathogenic transmissibility and the social network from outbreak observations, ensuring that the two determinants of spreading are identified separately. We tested this technique on data collected from a 1967 smallpox epidemic in Abakaliki, Nigeria. We inferred, probabilistically, different transmissibilities in the structured Abakaliki population, the social network, and the chain of transmission. Finally, we developed an individual-based epidemic model to realistically simulate the spread of a rare (or eradicated) disease in a modern society. This model incorporates the mixing patterns observed in an (American) urban setting and accepts, as model input, pathogenic transmissibilities estimated from historical outbreaks that may have occurred in socio-economic environments with little resemblance to contemporary society. Techniques were also developed to simulate disease spread on static and sampled network reductions of the dynamic social networks originally in the individual

Whooping cough.

PubMed

Chivima, Brenda

2014-10-21

Whooping cough or pertussis is a contagious disease of the upper respiratory tract caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis. Whooping cough is transmitted via droplets in the air from sneezing or coughing and individuals are considered infectious from just before and up to 21 days after the onset of the cough. Usually it has an incubation period of seven to ten days, and the disease lasts six to eight weeks.

AIDS in the workplace: current practices and possible implications.

PubMed

Nykodym, N; Miners, I A; Simonetti, J L; Patel, N S

1989-01-01

The testing of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remains a political factor. Questions are being raised as to an individual's right to privacy and the public's concern for safety. Despite the controversy, the law protects contagious disease sufferers from employment discrimination. Along with AIDS testing, drug testing remains a controversial issue. Mandatory drug testing remains in both the public and private sectors. Legislative activity in California continues to the present.

Historical Analysis of the Battle of Little Bighorn Utilizing the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

Frank Giordano , whose enlightening instruction and contagious enthusiasm in mathematical modeling provided us with the tools and concepts needed to...for each weapon, as taught by Brigadier General (Retired) Frank Giordano and Dr. Maurice Weir, authors of Mathematical Modeling and professors at...decision was to use the estimate given by Scott in a separate article he authored with Melissa A. Connor titled “Post-mortem at the Little Bighorn

Photoreactivation of Ultraviolet-Irradiated, Plasmid-Bearing and Plasmid-Free Strains of Bacillus anthracis

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-12-19

positive bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is a virulent and highly contagious disease to which most warm-blooded animals, including man, are susceptible... Virulent strains of B. anthracis produce a capsule composed of poly-0-glutamic acid and an exotoxin. The toxin is composed of three proteins identified...as ederma factor (EF), protective antigen (PA), and lethal factor (LF) (17). Anthrax toxin and capsule production are associated with two separate

World Epidemiology Review, Number 84

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-07-14

however, that the Macuxis outbreak is not very severe. The disease was probably caused by polluted river water. The Macuxis Indians, the majority of...systematic protection of the environment against pollution ; there was a general decline in nearly all nosologies and the number of cases of contagious...against pollution ; studies will be made regarding the discharge of the products of the chemical, petroleum, metallurgical, textile and other industries

"Contagious Love": A Qualitative Study of the Couple Relationships of Ten AIDS Carriers

PubMed Central

Doron, Hadas; Teichner, Noa; Grey, Adi; Goldstein, Yehudit

2008-01-01

The qualitative study in this article portrays the couple relationship among AIDS carriers, based on Sternberg's triangular love theory (involving domains of intimacy, passion and commitment). The central study hypothesis is that certain components of the Sternberg model will be more significant than others among the AIDS carrier population. The study was conducted on ten AIDS carriers aged 21-37 who had experienced a couple relationship. Six men and four women participated; most of them were in a romantic couple relationship of homosexual orientation. The interviewees answered a questionnaire that included the three domains-- intimacy, passion and commitment--in the personal interview technique. The interview focused on interviewee's attitude towards his/her relationship with a partner, as he/she understood it. The findings of the study focus on relevant content that was gathered from the interviews and these portray a limited view of couple patterns in the world of AIDS carriers. The study reveals two major findings regarding the carrier's desires: On the one hand, the carrier describes a powerful need for a stable, permanent relationship--from the diagnosis of AIDS and throughout the subsequent years. On the other hand, the carrier also expresses powerful sexual desires that are not necessarily limited to a permanent partner. Thus passion is the dominant among the three domains. The intimacy domain is mainly affected by disclosure of the disease and the joint coping that follows. The findings are discussed in the context of the romantic internalized model theory and Sternberg's triangular love theory. PMID:18923698

Are Suicidal Behaviors Contagious in Adolescence?: Using Longitudinal Data to Examine Suicide Suggestion*

PubMed Central

Abrutyn, Seth; Mueller, Anna S.

2015-01-01

Though Durkheim argued that strong social relationships protect individuals from suicide, we posit that these relationships have the potential to increase individuals’ vulnerability when they expose them to suicidality. Using three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we evaluate whether new suicidal thoughts and attempts are in part responses to exposure to the suicide attempts of role models, specifically friends and family. We find that the suicide attempts of role models do in fact trigger new suicidal thoughts and in some cases attempts, even after significant controls are introduced. Moreover, we find that these effects fade with time, that girls are more vulnerable to them than boys, and that the relationship to the role model—for teenagers at least—matters. Friends appear to be more salient role models for both boys and girls. Our findings suggest that exposure to suicidal behaviors in significant others may teach individuals new ways to deal with emotional distress, namely by becoming suicidal. This reinforces the idea that the structure – and content – of social networks conditions their role in preventing suicidality. Specifically, social ties can be conduits of not just social support, but also anti-social behaviors, like suicidality. PMID:26069341

Contagious Comments: What Was the Online Buzz About the 2011 Quebec Measles Outbreak?

PubMed Central

Pereira, Jennifer A.; Quach, Susan; Dao, Huy Hao; Kwong, Jeffrey C.; Deeks, Shelley L.; Crowcroft, Natasha S.; Quan, Sherman D.; Guay, Maryse

2013-01-01

Background Although interruption of endemic measles was achieved in the Americas in 2002, Quebec experienced an outbreak in 2011 of 776 reported cases; 80% of these individuals had not been fully vaccinated. We analyzed readers’ online responses to Canadian news articles regarding the outbreak to better understand public perceptions of measles and vaccination. Methods We searched Canadian online English and French news sites for articles posted between April 2011 and March 2012 containing the words “measles” and “Quebec”. We included articles that i) concerned the outbreak or related vaccination strategies; and ii) generated at least ten comments. Two English and two bilingual researchers coded the unedited comments, categorizing codes to allow themes to emerge. Results We analyzed 448 comments from 188 individuals, in response to three French articles and six English articles; 112 individuals expressed positive perceptions of measles vaccination (2.2 comments/person), 38 were negative (4.2 comments/person), 11 had mixed feelings (1.5 comments/person), and 27 expressed no opinion (1.1 comments/person). Vaccine-supportive themes involved the success of vaccination in preventing disease spread, societal responsibility to vaccinate for herd immunity, and refutation of the autism link. Those against measles vaccination felt it was a personal rather than societal choice, and conveyed a distrust of vaccine manufacturers, believing that measles infection is not only safe but safer than vaccination. Commenters with mixed feelings expressed uncertainty of the infection’s severity, and varied in support of all vaccines based on perceived risk/benefit ratios. Conclusion The anti-vaccine minority’s volume of comments translates to a disproportionately high representation on online boards. Public health messages should address concerns by emphasizing that immunization is always a personal choice in Canada, and that the pharmaceutical industry is strictly controlled. Illustrating the dangers of measles through personal stories, rather than scientific data only, may also serve to strengthen messaging. PMID:23691152

Interest in STEM is contagious for students in biology, chemistry, and physics classes

PubMed Central

Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Cribbs, Jennifer D.; Godwin, Allison; Scott, Tyler D.; Klotz, Leidy

2017-01-01

We report on a study of the effect of peers’ interest in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes on students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)–related career intentions and course achievement. We define an interest quorum as a science class where students perceive a high level of interest for the subject matter from their classmates. We hypothesized that students who experience such an interest quorum are more likely to choose STEM careers. Using data from a national survey study of students‘ experiences in high school science, we compared the effect of five levels of peer interest reported in biology, chemistry, and physics courses on students‘ STEM career intentions. The results support our hypothesis, showing a strong, positive effect of an interest quorum even after controlling for differences between students that pose competing hypotheses such as previous STEM career interest, academic achievement, family support for mathematics and science, and gender. Smaller positive effects of interest quorums were observed for course performance in some cases, with no detrimental effects observed across the study. Last, significant effects persisted even after controlling for differences in teaching quality. This work emphasizes the likely importance of interest quorums for creating classroom environments that increase students’ intentions toward STEM careers while enhancing or maintaining course performance. PMID:28808678

Contagious Anxiety: Anxious European Americans Can Transmit Their Physiological Reactivity to African Americans.

PubMed

West, Tessa V; Koslov, Katrina; Page-Gould, Elizabeth; Major, Brenda; Mendes, Wendy Berry

2017-12-01

During interracial encounters, well-intentioned European Americans sometimes engage in subtle displays of anxiety, which can be interpreted as signs of racial bias by African American partners. In the present research, same-race and cross-race stranger dyads ( N = 123) engaged in getting-acquainted tasks, during which measures of sympathetic nervous system responses (preejection period, PEP) and heart rate variability were continuously collected. PEP scores showed that African American partners had stronger physiological linkage to European American partners who evidenced greater anxiety-greater cortisol reactivity, behavioral tension, and self-reported discomfort-which suggests greater physiological responsiveness to momentary changes in partners' affective states when those partners were anxious. European Americans showed physiological linkage to African American and European American partners, but linkage did not vary as a function of their partner's anxiety. Using physiological linkage offers a novel approach to understanding how affective responses unfold during dynamic intergroup interactions.

Interest in STEM is contagious for students in biology, chemistry, and physics classes.

PubMed

Hazari, Zahra; Potvin, Geoff; Cribbs, Jennifer D; Godwin, Allison; Scott, Tyler D; Klotz, Leidy

2017-08-01

We report on a study of the effect of peers' interest in high school biology, chemistry, and physics classes on students' STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)-related career intentions and course achievement. We define an interest quorum as a science class where students perceive a high level of interest for the subject matter from their classmates. We hypothesized that students who experience such an interest quorum are more likely to choose STEM careers. Using data from a national survey study of students' experiences in high school science, we compared the effect of five levels of peer interest reported in biology, chemistry, and physics courses on students' STEM career intentions. The results support our hypothesis, showing a strong, positive effect of an interest quorum even after controlling for differences between students that pose competing hypotheses such as previous STEM career interest, academic achievement, family support for mathematics and science, and gender. Smaller positive effects of interest quorums were observed for course performance in some cases, with no detrimental effects observed across the study. Last, significant effects persisted even after controlling for differences in teaching quality. This work emphasizes the likely importance of interest quorums for creating classroom environments that increase students' intentions toward STEM careers while enhancing or maintaining course performance.

The Application of Contagious Disease Epidemiological Models to Known Population Structure and Movement

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

subpopulation in which they were located, as shown in the following table. 3 While similar in many...estimates in terms of the following three metrics: 1. total numbers of expected casualties, 2. the overall duration of the modeled outbreak, and 3 . the...11  3 . The Effect of Population Structure and Movement on Casualty Estimates ..............15 A.  Plague Results

Are Suicidal Behaviors Contagious in Adolescence?: Using Longitudinal Data to Examine Suicide Suggestion.

PubMed

Abrutyn, Seth; Mueller, Anna S

2014-04-01

Though Durkheim argued that strong social relationships protect individuals from suicide, we posit that these relationships have the potential to increase individuals' vulnerability when they expose them to suicidality. Using three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we evaluate whether new suicidal thoughts and attempts are in part responses to exposure to the suicide attempts of role models, specifically friends and family. We find that the suicide attempts of role models do in fact trigger new suicidal thoughts and in some cases attempts, even after significant controls are introduced. Moreover, we find that these effects fade with time, that girls are more vulnerable to them than boys, and that the relationship to the role model-for teenagers at least-matters. Friends appear to be more salient role models for both boys and girls. Our findings suggest that exposure to suicidal behaviors in significant others may teach individuals new ways to deal with emotional distress, namely by becoming suicidal. This reinforces the idea that the structure - and content - of social networks conditions their role in preventing suicidality. Specifically, social ties can be conduits of not just social support, but also anti-social behaviors, like suicidality.

Knitted Patterns or Contagious Hotspots?: Linking Views on Knowledge and Organizational Networked Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cornelissen, Frank; de Jong, Tjip; Kessels, Joseph

2012-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a framework which connects perspectives on knowledge and learning to various approaches of social networks studies. The purpose is twofold: providing input for the discourse in organizational studies about the way different views on knowledge and networks drive design choices and activities of researchers,…

Lions and prions and deer demise.

PubMed

Miller, Michael W; Swanson, Heather M; Wolfe, Lisa L; Quartarone, Fred G; Huwer, Sherri L; Southwick, Charles H; Lukacs, Paul M

2008-01-01

Contagious prion diseases--scrapie of sheep and chronic wasting disease of several species in the deer family--give rise to epidemics that seem capable of compromising host population viability. Despite this prospect, the ecological consequences of prion disease epidemics in natural populations have received little consideration. Using a cohort study design, we found that prion infection dramatically lowered survival of free-ranging adult (>2-year-old) mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus): estimated average life expectancy was 5.2 additional years for uninfected deer but only 1.6 additional years for infected deer. Prion infection also increased nearly fourfold the rate of mountain lions (Puma concolor) preying on deer, suggesting that epidemics may alter predator-prey dynamics by facilitating hunting success. Despite selective predation, about one fourth of the adult deer we sampled were infected. High prevalence and low survival of infected deer provided a plausible explanation for the marked decline in this deer population since the 1980s. Remarkably high infection rates sustained in the face of intense predation show that even seemingly complete ecosystems may offer little resistance to the spread and persistence of contagious prion diseases. Moreover, the depression of infected populations may lead to local imbalances in food webs and nutrient cycling in ecosystems in which deer are important herbivores.

A History of the Army Ground Forces; Study Number 16. The Army Ground Forces History of the Second Army

DTIC Science & Technology

1945-09-01

proficiency in conjunction with other arms and services.7 GHQ and Second Army placed great stress on the development of instructors and the proper training of...separate units. This was clearly brought out in a report of iuspection of Second Army units at Ft. Knox, Ky., by Maj. Gen. J. M. Cumins , Commander of the...covered were food and water, hygiene, housing, field sanitation, and contagious and communicable diseases. Physical exercise stressed mass calisthenics

Lognormal Infection Times of Online Information Spread

PubMed Central

Doerr, Christian; Blenn, Norbert; Van Mieghem, Piet

2013-01-01

The infection times of individuals in online information spread such as the inter-arrival time of Twitter messages or the propagation time of news stories on a social media site can be explained through a convolution of lognormally distributed observation and reaction times of the individual participants. Experimental measurements support the lognormal shape of the individual contributing processes, and have resemblance to previously reported lognormal distributions of human behavior and contagious processes. PMID:23700473

Acute pancreatitis: rare complication of chicken pox in an immunocompetent host.

PubMed

Kumar, Sunil; Jain, A P; Pandit, A K

2007-01-01

Chicken pox is a highly contagious infection, caused by the varicella zoster virus. Although generally a benign, self-limited disease, varicella may be associated with serious complications especially in adults. We present acute pancreatitis- a rare complication, in otherwise healthy patients suffering from chicken pox. The presence of pancreatitis in association with chickenpox in immunocompetent patients can influence the outcome of the latter. This interesting case will hopefully increase awareness about this complication and its fatality in chicken pox.

[Research Advances in Cyprinid Herpesvirus 3].

PubMed

Zheng, Shucheng; Wang, Qing; Li, Yingying; Zeng, Weiwei; Wang, Yingying; Liu, Chun; Liang, Hongru; Shi, Cunbin

2016-01-01

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) is the causative agent of an extremely contagious and aggressive disease afflicting common corp Cyprinus carpio L. termed koi herpesvirus disease (KHVD). Since it was first reported in 1997, the virus has spread worldwide rapidly, leading to enormous financial losses in industries based on common carp and koi carp. This review summarizes recent advances in CyHV-3 research on the etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and control of KHVD.

[Norwegian scabies in a pediatric patient with Down syndrome, a case report].

PubMed

Mantero, Natalia M; Jaime, Lorena J; Nijamin, Tamara R; Laffargue, Jorge A; De Lillo, Leonardo; Grees, Susana A

2013-12-01

Norwegian (crusted) scabies is a rare and extreme manifestation of scabies that can be observed mainly among immunosuppressed patients. Due to the high number of scabies mites present in each lesion, crusted scabies symptoms are much more intense than in usual scabies and it is thus highly contagious. A case study of a child with Down syndrome and Norwegian scabies who shows a good response to a treatment combining keratolytics, emollients, ivermectin and topical scabicides is described.

The diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy for scabies.

PubMed

Park, Ju Hyuk; Kim, Chul Woo; Kim, Sang Seok

2012-05-01

Scabies is a contagious skin infestation characterized clinically by nocturnal pruritus, visible burrows and contagiousness. Dermoscopy has been suggested as an alternative for diagnosing scabies. But, there have been few well-designed studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy. We tried to confirm the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy for diagnosing scabies. We also tried to demonstrate specific circumstances in which dermoscopic identification of mites ("with dermoscopy") is more useful in diagnosing scabies, and to identify the specific clinical findings that could be used as a possible marker in diagnosing scabies. We compared the scraping procedure "with dermoscopy" and "without it" in 49 patients, measuring the duration and outcome of each procedure. Also, we tried to find the specific clinical factors associated with our objects. The skin scraping "with dermoscopy" was superior to "without it" with respect to the duration and accuracy of the procedure. A history of previous steroid treatment was associated with the superiority of dermoscopy. The correlation between the presence of visible burrows and the positive outcomes of "with dermoscopy" was statistically significant. Skin scraping with dermoscopy is implicated as the diagnostic method of choice for scabies at the present time. Dermoscopy is especially useful in diagnosis of incognito scabies. In addition, the presence of visible burrows could be a reliable positive marker of scabies in the absence of dermoscopy or microscopy data.

Specific Humoral Immune Response Induced by Propionibacterium acnes Can Prevent Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Infection in Mice

PubMed Central

Yang, Feng; Ma, Qiuyue; Huang, Jing; Ji, Qun; Zhai, Ruidong; Wang, Lei; Wang, Yu; Li, Linxi; Sun, Changjiang; Feng, Xin; Han, Wenyu

2014-01-01

Porcine contagious pleuropneumonia, caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, has a major impact on economics, ecology, and animal welfare in the pig-rearing industry. Propionibacterium acnes, a facultative anaerobic Gram-positive corynebacterium, exists widely in normal healthy adult animals. We have shown previously that P. acnes can prevent A. pleuropneumoniae infections in mice and pigs. To elucidate the mechanism of this effect and to identify novel A. pleuropneumoniae vaccines, the role of anti-P. acnes antibodies in preventing infection was analyzed by indirect immunofluorescence and opsonophagocytosis assays in vitro. The role of the specific humoral immune response induced by P. acnes was confirmed in a B cell depletion mouse model. The survival rates of mice challenged with A. pleuropneumoniae exhibited a highly significant positive rank correlation with the levels of anti-P. acnes antibodies. The specific antibodies induced by P. acnes had the ability to combine with A. pleuropneumoniae and increase opsonization of A. pleuropneumoniae for phagocytosis. Furthermore, analysis in the murine B cell depletion model confirmed that the humoral immune response induced by P. acnes played an important role in resistance to A. pleuropneumoniae infection. In this study, we further elucidated the reasons that P. acnes can prevent A. pleuropneumoniae infection, which provides useful evidence for the development of heterologous vaccines for the control of porcine contagious pleuropneumonia. PMID:24429068

Geographical structures and the cholera epidemic in modern Japan: Fukushima prefecture in 1882 and 1895.

PubMed

Kuo, Chun-Lin; Fukui, Hiromichi

2007-06-30

Disease diffusion patterns can provide clues for understanding geographical change. Fukushima, a rural prefecture in northeast Japan, was chosen for a case study of the late nineteenth century cholera epidemic that occurred in that country. Two volumes of Cholera Ryu-ko Kiji (Cholera Epidemic Report), published by the prefectural government in 1882 and 1895, provide valuable records for analyzing and modelling diffusion. Text descriptions and numerical evidence culled from the reports were incorporated into a temporal-spatial study framework using geographic information system (GIS) and geo-statistical techniques. Changes in diffusion patterns between 1882 and 1895 reflect improvements in the Fukushima transportation system and growth in social-economic networks. The data reveal different diffusion systems in separate regions in which residents of Fukushima and neighboring prefectures interacted. Our model also shows that an area in the prefecture's northern interior was dominated by a mix of diffusion processes (contagious and hierarchical), that the southern coastal region was affected by a contagious process, and that other infected areas experienced relocation diffusion. In addition to enhancing our understanding of epidemics, the spatial-temporal patterns of cholera diffusion offer opportunities for studying regional change in modern Japan. By highlighting the dynamics of regional reorganization, our findings can be used to better understand the formation of an urban hierarchy in late nineteenth century Japan.

Opportunism of Conidiobolus obscurus stems from depression of infection in situ to progeny colonies of host alatae as disseminators of the aphid-pathogenic fungus.

PubMed

Zhang, Guo-Zhong; Feng, Ming-Guang; Chen, Chun; Ying, Sheng-Hua

2007-04-01

Conidiobolus (Entomophthorales: Ancylistaceae) includes common aphid pathogens but causes sporadic mycosis worldwide. This epizootiological opportunism was explored herein by examining the potential of mycosis transmission in the progeny colonies of 513 Myzus persicae alates as disseminators of C. obscurus often infecting aphids. The alates exposed to spore showers were flown for 2.05 (0.01-8.95) km on flight mills and then reared individually on cabbage at 20-23 degrees C for 14 day colonization. All truly infected alates were mycosed within 6 days and averagely left 3.9 (0-15) nymphs while those uninfected produced 11.6 (0-35) nymphs during the same period. Secondary and tertiary infections occurred only in 16.2% and 4.8% of the progeny colonies of the mycosed alates respectively, due to c. 60% of the cadavers forming resting spores. Most of the contagious infections appeared on days 4-8 after colonization and no more occurred from day 11 onwards. Trends of colony sizes (last-day averaging 51.5 aphids) and mycosis transmission (sixth-day maximum 6.3%) fit well to logistic (r2 = 0.99) and Gompertz growth models (r2 = 0.91) respectively. The results confirm that the opportunism of C. obscurus stems from depression of contagious infection after dissemination by host alates and suggest that it be overwhelmed by the prevalence of other non-resting fungal species.

Choosing a Transformation in Analyses of Insect Counts from Contagious Distributions with Low Means

Treesearch

W.D. Pepper; S.J. Zarnoch; G.L. DeBarr; P. de Groot; C.D. Tangren

1997-01-01

Guidelines based on computer simulation are suggested for choosing a transformation of insect counts from negative binomial distributions with low mean counts and high levels of contagion. Typical values and ranges of negative binomial model parameters were determined by fitting the model to data from 19 entomological field studies. Random sampling of negative binomial...

Space-time analysis of Down syndrome: results consistent with transient pre-disposing contagious agent.

PubMed

McNally, Richard J Q; Rankin, Judith; Shirley, Mark D F; Rushton, Stephen P; Pless-Mulloli, Tanja

2008-10-01

Whilst maternal age is an established risk factor for Patau syndrome (trisomy 13), Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18) and Down syndrome (trisomy 21), the aetiology and contribution of genetic and environmental factors remains unclear. We analysed for space-time clustering using high quality fully population-based data from a geographically defined region. The study included all cases of Patau, Edwards and Down syndrome, delivered during 1985-2003 and resident in the former Northern Region of England, including terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. We applied the K-function test for space-time clustering with fixed thresholds of close in space and time using residential addresses at time of delivery. The Knox test was used to indicate the range over which the clustering effect occurred. Tests were repeated using nearest neighbour (NN) thresholds to adjust for variable population density. The study analysed 116 cases of Patau syndrome, 240 cases of Edwards syndrome and 1084 cases of Down syndrome. There was evidence of space-time clustering for Down syndrome (fixed threshold of close in space: P = 0.01, NN threshold: P = 0.02), but little or no clustering for Patau (P = 0.57, P = 0.19) or Edwards (P = 0.37, P = 0.06) syndromes. Clustering of Down syndrome was associated with cases from more densely populated areas and evidence of clustering persisted when cases were restricted to maternal age <40 years. The highly novel space-time clustering for Down syndrome suggests an aetiological role for transient environmental factors, such as infections.

Is Freedom Contagious? A Self-Regulatory Model of Reactance and Sensitivity to Deviant Peers.

PubMed

Leander, N Pontus; vanDellen, Michelle R; Rachl-Willberger, Judith; Shah, James Y; Fitzsimons, Gavan J; Chartrand, Tanya L

2016-12-01

Psychological reactance is typically assumed to motivate resistance to controlling peer influences and societal prohibitions. However, some peer influences encourage behaviors prohibited by society. We consider whether reactant individuals are sensitive to such opportunities to enhance their autonomy. We specifically propose a self-regulatory perspective on reactance, wherein freedom/autonomy is the superordinate goal, and thus highly reactant individuals will be sensitive to peer influences that could enhance their behavioral freedoms. In two studies, we find that reactant individuals can be cooperative in response to autonomy-supportive peer influences. Participants read a scenario in which a peer's intentions to engage in substance use were manipulated to imply freedom of choice or not. Results indicated that highly reactant participants were sensitive to deviant peers whose own behavior towards alcohol (Study 1, N = 160) or marijuana (Study 2, N = 124) appeared to be motivated by autonomy and thus afforded free choice. Altogether, the results support a self-regulatory model of reactance, wherein deviant peer influence can be a means to pursue autonomy.

Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes as a confluence of conventional phenomena: a general hypothesis.

PubMed

Houran, J; Lange, R

1996-12-01

Hauntings and poltergeist-like episodes are argued to be products of contagious reactions to ambiguous environmental or cognitive events. In particular, evidence suggests that the subjective and objective effects reported by percipients are the function of independent, nonparanoraml etiologies whose constitutions have been previously established and described. According to this multivariate model, the labeling of ambiguous events as "abnormal" or "paranormal" initiates the reactive process which is subsequently sustained by perceptual contagion, i.e., flurries of paranormal observations due self-reinforcing attentional processes.

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS ON GOITRE (SO CALLED THYROID CARCINOMA) IN BROOK TROUT (SALVELINUS FONTINALIS)

PubMed Central

Marine, David

1914-01-01

1. Goitre in fish is a non-infectious, non-contagious, symptomatic manifestation of a fault of nutrition, the exact biochemical nature of which has not been determined. 2. Feeding the highly artificial and incomplete diet of liver is the major etiological factor in bringing about this fault of nutrition which is at once corrected by feeding whole sea fish. 3. Water plays no essential part in the etiology, transmission, or distribution of the disease in the fish of this hatchery. PMID:19867750

A review of measles.

PubMed

Dardis, Melissa R

2012-02-01

Measles, once a common childhood illness that many older school nurses could recognize without difficulty, needs review again after reemerging from Europe and other continents. A highly contagious disease, which has been referenced since the seventh century, the virus can cause serious illness and death, despite the fact that it is vaccine preventable. School nurses are wise to review the pathogenesis, occurrences, incubation, and communicability as well as methods to diagnose and treat measles in order to prevent an outbreak.

The effective management of atopic dermatitis in school-age children.

PubMed

Ward, Sue

The terms atopic eczema and atopic dermatitis (AD) are synonymous. In this article, the latter term is used. AD can affect all age groups but is most commonly associated with children. It is a dry-skin condition, the severity of which can vary from person to person. It is not contagious. In mild forms of the condition the skin is dry, hot and itchy, while in more severe cases the skin can be broken, raw and bleeding, or produce vesicles and papules that may become eroded.

Prevalence and incidence of intramammary infections in lactating dairy goats.

PubMed

McDougall, S; Malcolm, D; Prosser, Cg

2014-05-01

To determine the prevalence of intramammary infection (IMI) of lactating dairy goats between 0 and 4 days postpartum, the prevalence and incidence rate of new IMI at Weeks 2, 14 and 27 of lactation, and the relationship between herd-level prevalence of IMI and bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC). Milk samples were collected from 8% of a herd (total 624 does) from 18 dairy goat herds in the Waikato region of New Zealand, for bacteriology and somatic cell count (SCC) determination, from both glands within 4 days of kidding (Week 0) and again at Weeks 2, 14 and 27. Prevalence of IMI was determined at each time point and incidence rate calculated for Weeks 0-2, 2-14, and 14-27. Greenwood and Reed-Frost models were compared for estimation of the transmission parameter for all pathogens, and for Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) and Corynebacterium spp. separately. Bacteria were isolated from 1,122/4,814 (23.3%) glands, with CNS (13.4%) and Corynebacterium spp. (7.3%) being the most common isolates. Prevalence of any IMI increased with stage of lactation, varied among herds, and increased with age (all p<0.05). Incidence rate was 80, 24 and 7 new IMI/10,000 gland days for Weeks 0-2, 2-14 and 14-27, respectively. Incidence rate for any IMI increased with age and with the presence of an IMI in the contralateral gland, and varied among herds (p<0.001). The transmission of each pathogen was better modelled assuming contagiousness (Reed-Frost models), than not (Greenwood models). At gland level, IMI increased SCC at all stages of lactation (p<0.001). The gland prevalence of IMI within herds was positively associated with ln BTSCC at Week 2 (p=0.02), but not Weeks 14 or 27 (p>0.05). Prevalence of IMI increased with stage of lactation, but the highest incidence rate of new IMI occurred in early lactation. Models accounting for the contagious nature of infection fitted better than those not accounting for contagiousness. BTSCC was only associated

[In silico evaluation of an aviar influenza AH5N1 virus outbreak with human to human transmission: effects of sanitary measures in Valencia, Venezuela, 2012].

PubMed

Reggeti, Mariana; Romero, Emilse; Eblen-Zajjur, Antonio

2016-06-01

There is a risk for an avian influenza AH5N1 virus pandemia. To estimate the magnitude and impact of an AH5N1 pandemic in areas of Latin-America in order to design interventions and to reduce morbidity-mortality. The InfluSim program was used to simulate a highly pathogenic AH5N1 aviar virus epidemic outbreak with human to human transmission in Valencia, Venezuela. We estimated the day of maximal number of cases, number of moderately and severely ill patients, exposed individuals, deaths and associated costs for 5 different interventions: absence of any intervention; implementation of antiviral treatment; reduction of 20% in population general contacts; closure of 20% of educational institutions; and reduction of 50% in massive public gatherings. Simulation parameters used were: population: 829.856 persons, infection risk 6-47%, contagiousness Index Rh o 2,5; relative contagiousness 90%, overall lethality 64,1% and, costs according to the official basic budget. For an outbreak lasting 200 days direct and indirect deaths by intervention strategies would be: 29,907; 29,900; 9,701; 29,295 and 14,752. Costs would follow a similar trend. Reduction of 20% in general population contacts results in a significant reduction of up to 68% of cases. The outbreak would collapse the health care system. Antiviral treatment would not be efficient during the outbreak. Interpersonal contact reduction proved to be the best sanitary measure to control an AH5N1 theoretical epidemic outbreak.

Empathy in schizophrenia: impaired resonance.

PubMed

Haker, Helene; Rössler, Wulf

2009-09-01

Resonance is the phenomenon of one person unconsciously mirroring the motor actions as basis of emotional expressions of another person. This shared representation serves as a basis for sharing physiological and emotional states of others and is an important component of empathy. Contagious laughing and contagious yawning are examples of resonance. In the interpersonal contact with individuals with schizophrenia we can often experience impaired empathic resonance. The aim of this study is to determine differences in empathic resonance-in terms of contagion by yawning and laughing-in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls in the context of psychopathology and social functioning. We presented video sequences of yawning, laughing or neutral faces to 43 schizophrenia outpatients and 45 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. Participants were video-taped during the stimulation and rated regarding contagion by yawning and laughing. In addition, we assessed self-rated empathic abilities (Interpersonal Reactivity Index), psychopathology (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in the schizophrenia group resp. Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire in the control group), social dysfunction (Social Dysfunction Index) and executive functions (Stroop, Fluency). Individuals with schizophrenia showed lower contagion rates for yawning and laughing. Self-rated empathic concern showed no group difference and did not correlate with contagion. Low rate of contagion by laughing correlated with the schizophrenia negative syndrome and with social dysfunction. We conclude that impaired resonance is a handicap for individuals with schizophrenia in social life. Blunted observable resonance does not necessarily reflect reduced subjective empathic concern.

Are we prepared for emerging and re-emerging diseases? Experience and lessons from epidemics that occurred in Tanzania during the last five decades.

PubMed

Karimuribo, Esron D; Mboera, Leonard E G; Mbugi, Erasto; Simba, Azma; Kivaria, Fredrick M; Mmbuji, Peter; Rweyemamu, Mark M

2011-12-01

This paper reviews preparedness for containing and controlling emerging and re-emerging diseases drawing lessons from disease events that occurred in animal and human populations in the last five decades (1961-2011). A comprehensive analysis based on retrieval and analysis of grey and published literature as well as reported cases was carried out to document type and trend of occurrence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in different parts of Tanzania. Overall, the majority of diseases reported in the country were viral in nature followed by bacterial diseases. The trend for the occurrence shows a number of new emerging diseases as well as re-occurrence of old diseases in both animal (domestic and wild) and human populations. In humans, the major disease epidemics reported in the last five decades include cholera, influenza A H1N1, plague and rubella. In animals, the major epidemic diseases reported were Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia, Peste des petits ruminants and Giraffe Ear and Skin Diseases. Some epidemics have been reported in both human and animal populations including Rift Valley fever and anthrax. The emergence of the 'fit-for purpose' approaches and technologies such as the discipline of One Health, use of participatory epidemiology and disease surveillance and mobile technologies offers opportunity for optimal use of limited resources to improve early detection, diagnosis and response to disease events and consequently reduced impact of such diseases in animal and human populations.

The key role of rubella virus glycoproteins in the formation of immune response, and perspectives on their use in the development of new recombinant vaccines.

PubMed

Petrova, Ekaterina K; Dmitrieva, Anastasia A; Trifonova, Ekaterina A; Nikitin, Nikolai A; Karpova, Olga V

2016-02-17

Rubella is a highly contagious viral disease which is mostly threatens to women of reproductive age. Existent live attenuated vaccines are effective enough, but have some drawbacks and are unusable for a certain group of people, including pregnant women and people with AIDS and other immunodeficiency. Thereby the development of alternative non-replicating, recombinant vaccines undoubtedly is needed. This review discusses the protein E1 and E2 role in formation of immune response and perspectives in development of new generation recombinant vaccines using them. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AsMA Medical Guidelines for Air Travel: Fitness to Fly and Medical Clearances.

PubMed

Thibeault, Claude; Evans, Anthony D; Dowdall, Nigel P

2015-07-01

Medical Guidelines for Airline Travel provide information that enables healthcare providers to properly advise patients who plan to travel by air. Not everyone is fit to travel by air and physicians should advise their patients accordingly. They should review the passenger's medical condition, giving special consideration to the dosage and timing of any medications, contagiousness, and the need for special assistance during travel. In general, an individual with an unstable medical condition should not fly; cabin altitude, duration of exposure, and altitude of the destination airport are all considerations when recommending a passenger for flight.

COSMETIC CAMOUFLAGE IN VITILIGO

PubMed Central

Sarveswari, K N

2010-01-01

Vitiligo is not a life–threatening nor a contagious disease. But the disfigurement of vitiligo can be devastating to its sufferers, especially dark-skinned individuals. Available treatment options are disappointing and sufferers often use various forms of camouflage. Remedial cosmetic cover creams help conceal the blemish of vitiligo at least temporarily. A high concentration of pigment is incorporated into water–free or anhydrous foundations to give a color that matches the patient’s skin, thereby concealing vitiligo patches. The article highlights the content and technique of application of these creams. PMID:21063508

Utility of Bacillary Index in Slit Skin Smears in Correlation with Clinical and Histopathological Alterations in Hansen's Disease: An Attempt to Revive a Simple Useful Procedure.

PubMed

Premalatha, P; Renuka, I V; Meghana, A; Devi, S I; Charyulu, Pavk; Sampoorna, G

2016-01-01

Leprosy, a relatively common chronic contagious disease having diverse modes of clinical presentation, can mimic a variety of unrelated diseases. For proper and adequate treatment, the diagnosis must be made accurately with subtyping which should be done with the help of bacillary index, histopathological features, and clinical correlation. This is extremely important in patient care as paucibacillary and multibacillary types have different modes of treatment. Our aim is to categorize leprosy into various types based on bacillary index, morphological findings both in slit skin smears, and biopsy along with clinical correlation.

Molekulare Diagnostik von Hautinfektionen am Paraffinmaterial - Übersicht und interdisziplinärer Konsensus.

PubMed

Sunderkötter, Cord; Becker, Karsten; Kutzner, Heinz; Meyer, Thomas; Blödorn-Schlicht, Norbert; Reischl, Udo; Nenoff, Pietro; Geißdörfer, Walter; Gräser, Yvonne; Herrmann, Mathias; Kühn, Joachim; Bogdan, Christian

2018-02-01

Nukleinsäure-Amplifikations-Techniken (NAT), wie die PCR, sind hochsensitiv sowie selektiv und stellen in der mikrobiologischen Diagnostik wertvolle Ergänzungen zur kulturellen Anzucht und Serologie dar. Sie bergen aber gerade bei formalinfixiertem und in Paraffin eingebettetem Gewebe ein Risiko für sowohl falsch negative als auch falsch positive Resultate, welches nicht immer richtig eingeschätzt wird. Daher haben Vertreter der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie (DGHM) und der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft (DDG) einen Konsensus in Form einer Übersichtsarbeit erarbeitet, wann eine NAT am Paraffinschnitt angezeigt und sinnvoll ist und welche Punkte dabei in der Präanalytik und Befundinterpretation beachtet werden müssen. Da bei Verdacht auf eine Infektion grundsätzlich Nativgewebe genutzt werden soll, ist die PCR am Paraffinschnitt ein Sonderfall, wenn beispielsweise bei erst nachträglichaufgekommenem Verdacht auf eine Infektion kein Nativmaterial zur Verfügung steht und nicht mehr gewonnen werden kann. Mögliche Indikationen sind der histologisch erhobene Verdacht auf eine Leishmaniose, eine Infektion durch Bartonellen oder Rickettsien, oder ein Ecthyma contagiosum. Nicht sinnvoll ist oder kritisch gesehen wird eine NAT am Paraffinschnitt zum Beispiel bei Infektionen mit Mykobakterien oder RNA-Viren. Die Konstellation für eine NAT aus Paraffingewebe sollte jeweils benannt werden, die erforderliche Prä-Analytik, die jeweiligen Grenzen des Verfahrens und die diagnostischen Alternativen bekannt sein. Der PCR-Befund sollte entsprechend kommentiert werden, um Fehleinschätzungen zu vermeiden. © 2018 Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft (DDG). Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Aggression Can be Contagious: Longitudinal Associations between Proactive Aggression and Reactive Aggression Among Young Twins

PubMed Central

Dickson, Daniel J.; Richmond, Ashley; Brendgen, Mara; Vitaro, Frank; Laursen, Brett; Dionne, Ginette; Boivin, Michel

2015-01-01

The present study examined sibling influence over reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of 452 same-sex twins (113 male dyads, 113 female dyads). Between and within siblings influence processes were examined as a function of relative levels of parental coercion and hostility to test the hypothesis that aggression contagion between twins occurs only among dyads who experience parental coerciveness. Teacher reports of reactive and proactive aggression were collected for each twin in kindergarten (M = 6.04 years; SD = 0.27) and in first grade (M = 7.08 years; SD = 0.27). Families were divided into relatively low, average, and relatively high parental coercion-hostility groups on the basis of maternal reports collected when the children were 5 years old. In families with relatively high levels of parental coercion-hostility, there was evidence of between-sibling influence, such that one twin’s reactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the other twin’s reactive aggression from ages 6 to 7, and one twin’s proactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the other twin’s proactive aggression from ages 6 to 7. There was also evidence of within-sibling influence such that a child’s level of reactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the same child’s proactive aggression at age 7, regardless of parental coercion-hostility. The findings provide new information about the etiology of reactive and proactive aggression and individual differences in their developmental interplay. PMID:25683448

Is Reading Contagious? Examining Parents' and Children's Reading Attitudes and Behaviors. Policy Brief No. 9

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephens, Maria; Erberber, Ebru; Tsokodayi, Yemurai; Kroeger, Teresa; Ferguson, Sharlyn

2015-01-01

When children have positive reading attitudes and behaviors, they generally also demonstrate strong reading skills. Strong reading skills enable children to access and learn content in a variety of subjects and reap a host of other academic and nonacademic benefits. Thus, it is of fundamental importance to ensure that children are motivated to…

Theory of Mind May Be Contagious, but You Don't Catch It From Your Twin

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassidy, Kimberly Wright; Fineberg, Deborah Shaw; Brown, Kimberly; Perkins, Alexis

2005-01-01

The theory-of-mind abilities of twins, children with nontwin siblings, and only children were compared to investigate further the link between number and type of siblings and theory-of-mind abilities. Three- to 5-year-old children with nontwin siblings outperformed both only children and twins with no other siblings, twins who also had other…

Theory of mind may be contagious, but you don't catch it from your twin.

PubMed

Wright Cassidy, Kimberly; Shaw Fineberg, Deborah; Brown, Kimberly; Perkins, Alexis

2005-01-01

The theory-of-mind abilities of twins, children with nontwin siblings, and only children were compared to investigate further the link between number and type of siblings and theory-of-mind abilities. Three- to 5-year-old children with nontwin siblings outperformed both only children and twins with no other siblings, twins who also had other siblings outperformed twins who did not, and children with at least 1 opposite-sex sibling outperformed children with only same-sex siblings. Twins performed significantly better when asked about the false beliefs of their twins than they did when asked about the false beliefs of their friends. Results are discussed in terms of potential mechanisms that may account for the twin and sibling effects.

[Relations between official and private veterinary services in epidemiology and the control of contagious diseases].

PubMed

Moura, J A; Bedoya, M; Agudelo, M P

2004-04-01

Growing budget restrictions in many countries have meant that official Veterinary Services cannot assume responsibility for any new activities. The natural reaction is to turn to private veterinary services to provide the support needed to strengthen the control and surveillance of priority diseases and thereby support the development of the livestock sector and the establishment of safe international trade. In this context, official Veterinary Services must work together with private veterinarians, delegating various technical animal health activities, so that they may focus their efforts on those tasks that cannot be delegated: standardisation, control, auditing, general system co-ordination, epidemiological surveillance, etc., as well as organising veterinary policy in order to make best use of budget resources. For these relations to be efficient, a dynamic, two-way epidemiological information mechanism must be created, whereby private veterinarians periodically keep governments informed, on the basis of an agreed methodology. Moreover, the official Veterinary Services must systematically transmit information on List A and B diseases of the OIE (World organisation for animal health), and perform detailed analyses of epidemiologically significant events. The article proposes the establishment of relations between public and private veterinary services as a way in which to provide the livestock sector with the health and hygiene conditions that are necessary for effective disease control, which in turn provides greater security for international trade and increased consumer protection.

Control of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices in Narok district of Kenya.

PubMed

Kairu-Wanyoike, S W; Kiara, H; Heffernan, C; Kaitibie, S; Gitau, G K; McKeever, D; Taylor, N M

2014-08-01

CBPP is an important transboundary disease in sub-Saharan Africa whose control is urgent. Participatory data collection involving 52 focus group discussions in 37 village clusters and key informant interviews, a cross-sectional study involving 232 households and a post-vaccination follow up involving 203 households was carried out in 2006-2007 in Narok South district of Kenya. This was to investigate knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices (KAPP) associated with control of CBPP as well as the adverse post-vaccination reactions in animals in order to advice the control policy. The community perceived trans-boundary CBPP threat to their cattle. They had traditional disease coping mechanisms and were conversant with CBPP prevention and control with 49.8% (95%CI: 42.8-56.7%) giving priority to CBPP control. However, 12.9% (95%CI: 9.0-18.1%) of pastoralists had no knowledge of any prevention method and 10.0% (95%CI: 6.5-14.7%) would not know what to do or would do nothing in the event of an outbreak. Although 43.5% (95%CI: 37.1-50.2%) of pastoralists were treating CBPP cases with antimicrobials, 62.5% (95%CI: 52.1-71.7%) of them doubted the effectiveness of the treatments. Pastoralists perceived vaccination to be the solution to CBPP but vaccination was irregular due to unavailability of the vaccine. Vaccination was mainly to control outbreaks rather than preventive and exhibited adverse post-vaccination reactions among 70.4% (95%CI: 63.6-76.5%) of herds and 3.8% (95%CI: 3.5-4.2%) of animals. Consequently, nearly 25.2% (95%CI: 18.5-33.2%) of pastoralists may resist subsequent vaccinations against CBPP. Pastoralists preferred CBPP vaccination at certain times of the year and that it is combined with other vaccinations. In conclusion, pastoralists were not fully aware of the preventive measures and interventions and post-vaccination reactions may discourage subsequent CBPP vaccinations. Consequently there is need for monitoring and management of post vaccination reactions and awareness creation on CBPP prevention and interventions and their merits and demerits. CBPP vaccine was largely unavailable to the pastoralists and the preference of the pastoralists was for vaccination at specified times and vaccine combinations which makes it necessary to avail the vaccine in conformity with the pastoralists preferences. In addition, planning vaccinations should involve pastoralists and neighbouring countries. As the results cannot be generalized, further studies on CBPP control methods and their effectiveness are recommended. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aggression can be contagious: Longitudinal associations between proactive aggression and reactive aggression among young twins.

PubMed

Dickson, Daniel J; Richmond, Ashley D; Brendgen, Mara; Vitaro, Frank; Laursen, Brett; Dionne, Ginette; Boivin, Michel

2015-01-01

The present study examined sibling influence over reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of 452 same-sex twins (113 male dyads, 113 female dyads). Between and within siblings influence processes were examined as a function of relative levels of parental coercion and hostility to test the hypothesis that aggression contagion between twins occurs only among dyads who experience parental coerciveness. Teacher reports of reactive and proactive aggression were collected for each twin in kindergarten (M = 6.04 years; SD = 0.27) and in first grade (M = 7.08 years; SD = 0.27). Families were divided into relatively low, average, and relatively high parental coercion-hostility groups on the basis of maternal reports collected when the children were 5 years old. In families with relatively high levels of parental coercion-hostility, there was evidence of between-sibling influence, such that one twin's reactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the other twin's reactive aggression from ages 6 to 7, and one twin's proactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the other twin's proactive aggression from ages 6 to 7. There was also evidence of within-sibling influence such that a child's level of reactive aggression at age 6 predicted increases in the same child's proactive aggression at age 7, regardless of parental coercion-hostility. The findings provide new information about the etiology of reactive and proactive aggression and individual differences in their developmental interplay. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Control of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: Knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices in Narok district of Kenya

PubMed Central

Kairu-Wanyoike, S.W.; Kiara, H.; Heffernan, C.; Kaitibie, S.; Gitau, G.K.; McKeever, D.; Taylor, N.M.

2014-01-01

CBPP is an important transboundary disease in sub-Saharan Africa whose control is urgent. Participatory data collection involving 52 focus group discussions in 37 village clusters and key informant interviews, a cross-sectional study involving 232 households and a post-vaccination follow up involving 203 households was carried out in 2006–2007 in Narok South district of Kenya. This was to investigate knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices (KAPP) associated with control of CBPP as well as the adverse post-vaccination reactions in animals in order to advice the control policy. The community perceived trans-boundary CBPP threat to their cattle. They had traditional disease coping mechanisms and were conversant with CBPP prevention and control with 49.8% (95%CI: 42.8–56.7%) giving priority to CBPP control. However, 12.9% (95%CI: 9.0–18.1%) of pastoralists had no knowledge of any prevention method and 10.0% (95%CI: 6.5–14.7%) would not know what to do or would do nothing in the event of an outbreak. Although 43.5% (95%CI: 37.1–50.2%) of pastoralists were treating CBPP cases with antimicrobials, 62.5% (95%CI: 52.1–71.7%) of them doubted the effectiveness of the treatments. Pastoralists perceived vaccination to be the solution to CBPP but vaccination was irregular due to unavailability of the vaccine. Vaccination was mainly to control outbreaks rather than preventive and exhibited adverse post-vaccination reactions among 70.4% (95%CI: 63.6–76.5%) of herds and 3.8% (95%CI: 3.5–4.2%) of animals. Consequently, nearly 25.2% (95%CI: 18.5–33.2%) of pastoralists may resist subsequent vaccinations against CBPP. Pastoralists preferred CBPP vaccination at certain times of the year and that it is combined with other vaccinations. In conclusion, pastoralists were not fully aware of the preventive measures and interventions and post-vaccination reactions may discourage subsequent CBPP vaccinations. Consequently there is need for monitoring and management of post vaccination reactions and awareness creation on CBPP prevention and interventions and their merits and demerits. CBPP vaccine was largely unavailable to the pastoralists and the preference of the pastoralists was for vaccination at specified times and vaccine combinations which makes it necessary to avail the vaccine in conformity with the pastoralists preferences. In addition, planning vaccinations should involve pastoralists and neighbouring countries. As the results cannot be generalized, further studies on CBPP control methods and their effectiveness are recommended. PMID:24768437

[Antoine Deidier, his experimental approach to the contagious nature of plague in Marseille in 1720].

PubMed

Dutour, Olivier

2011-01-01

Born in 1670 Deidier became a medical doctor at the age of 21. The son-in-law, of Vieussens, he took care of the inhabitants of Marseilles during the plague of 1720. A contagionist and an experimenter, he was considered as a strange scientist by his colleagues. It is time now to rehabilitate his memory.

Virulence and pathogen multiplication: a serial passage experiment in the hypervirulent bacterial insect-pathogen Xenorhabdus nematophila.

PubMed

Chapuis, Élodie; Pagès, Sylvie; Emelianoff, Vanya; Givaudan, Alain; Ferdy, Jean-Baptiste

2011-01-31

The trade-off hypothesis proposes that the evolution of pathogens' virulence is shaped by a link between virulence and contagiousness. This link is often assumed to come from the fact that pathogens are contagious only if they can reach high parasitic load in the infected host. In this paper we present an experimental test of the hypothesis that selection on fast replication can affect virulence. In a serial passage experiment, we selected 80 lines of the bacterial insect-pathogen Xenorhabdus nematophila to multiply fast in an artificial culture medium. This selection resulted in shortened lag phase in our selected bacteria. We then injected these bacteria into insects and observed an increase in virulence. This could be taken as a sign that virulence in Xenorhabdus is linked to fast multiplication. But we found, among the selected lineages, either no link or a positive correlation between lag duration and virulence: the most virulent bacteria were the last to start multiplying. We then surveyed phenotypes that are under the control of the flhDC super regulon, which has been shown to be involved in Xenorhabdus virulence. We found that, in one treatment, the flhDC regulon has evolved rapidly, but that the changes we observed were not connected to virulence. All together, these results indicate that virulence is, in Xenorhabdus as in many other pathogens, a multifactorial trait. Being able to grow fast is one way to be virulent. But other ways exist which renders the evolution of virulence hard to predict.

Occurrences of yawn and swallow are temporally related.

PubMed

Abe, Kimiko; Weisz, Sarah E M; Dunn, Rachelle L; DiGioacchino, Martina C; Nyentap, Jennifer A; Stanbouly, Seta; Theurer, Julie A; Bureau, Yves; Affoo, Rebecca H; Martin, Ruth E

2015-02-01

Yawning is a stereotyped motor behavior characterized by deep inhalation and associated dilation of the respiratory tract, pronounced jaw opening, and facial grimacing. The frequency of spontaneous yawning varies over the diurnal cycle, peaking after waking and before sleep. Yawning can also be elicited by seeing or hearing another yawn, or by thinking about yawning, a phenomenon known as "contagious yawning". Yawning is mediated by a distributed network of brainstem and supratentorial brain regions, the components of which are shared with other airway behaviors including respiration, swallowing, and mastication. Nevertheless, the possibility of behavioral coordination between yawning and other brainstem-mediated functions has not been examined. Here we show, with a double-blind methodology, a greater-than-fivefold increase in rest (saliva) swallowing rate during the 10-s period immediately following contagious yawning elicited in 14 adult humans through the viewing of videotaped yawn stimuli. Sixty-five percent of yawns were followed by a swallow within 10 s and swallows accounted for 26 % of all behaviors produced during this post-yawn period. This novel finding of a tight temporal coupling between yawning and swallowing provides preliminary evidence that yawning and swallowing are physiologically related, thus extending current models of upper airway physiology and neurophysiology. Moreover, our finding suggests the possibility that yawning plays a role in eliciting rest swallowing, a view not considered in previous theories of yawning. As such, the present demonstration of a temporal association between yawning and swallowing motivates a re-examination of the longstanding question, "Why do we yawn?".

Streptococcus agalactiae in the environment of bovine dairy herds--rewriting the textbooks?

PubMed

Jørgensen, H J; Nordstoga, A B; Sviland, S; Zadoks, R N; Sølverød, L; Kvitle, B; Mørk, T

2016-02-29

Many free-stall bovine dairy herds in Norway fail to eradicate Streptococcus agalactiae despite long-term control measures. In a longitudinal study of 4 free-stall herds with automatic milking systems (AMS), milk and extramammary sites were sampled 4 times with 1-2 month intervals. Composite milk, rectal- and vaginal swabs were collected from dairy cows; rectal swabs from heifers and young stock; rectal- and tonsillar swabs from calves; and environmental swabs from the AMS, the floors, cow beds, watering and feeding equipment. A cross sectional study of 37 herds was also conducted, with 1 visit for environmental sampling. Fifteen of the herds were known to be infected with S. agalactiae while the remaining 22 had not had evidence of S. agalactiae mastitis in the preceding 2 years. All samples were cultured for S. agalactiae, and selected isolates (n=54) from positive herds were genotyped by Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST). Results show that the bovine gastrointestinal tract and the dairy cow environment are reservoirs of S. agalactiae, and point to the existence of 2 transmission cycles; a contagious transmission cycle via the milking machine and an oro-fecal transmission cycle, with drinking water as the most likely vehicle for transmission. Ten sequence types were identified, and results suggest that strains differ in their ability to survive in the environment and transmit within dairy herds. Measures to eradicate S. agalactiae from bovine dairy herds should take into account the extra-mammary reservoirs and the potential for environmental transmission of this supposedly exclusively contagious pathogen. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

[Survey about the perception of the gastroenteritis and the infection due to rotavirus by the mothers in France].

PubMed

Haas, H; Olives, J-P; Virey, B; Klein, P

2010-04-01

To describe the perception of the acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and the interest for the vaccination of the AGE due to Rotavirus. Observational investigation realized by phone by the IPSOS institute, with 1002 French women of 18 years and more, constituting a representative national sample, having at least a child below 2 years, between 7 and January 31st, 2008. AGE is mainly considered by the mothers questioned as a grave pathology (43.1%) or very grave (51.3%) for the children below 2 years. This perception is bound to the symptoms and to the complications known for the disease. For the questioned mothers, the AGE comes along very often or often with diarrheas (97.2%), vomits (94.3%) or dehydration (94%). Hospitalizations are also perceived as frequent. The quasi-totality of the questioned women (98.3%) considers finally that it is about a very contagious disease (75.4%) or rather contagious (22.8%). The AGE at the child below 2 years provoke very frequently a medical consultation (91.8%), during which some solutions of oral rehydration are prescribed in six cases on 10 (62%). The questioned mothers are for the greater part favorable (86.3%) to a drinkable vaccine to prevent the AGE due to Rotavirus, and 88.1% say that they would intend to protect their child with this vaccine. The questioned mothers know the potential gravity of the AGE and a very wide majority of them (86.3%) declare themselves favorable to the prevention of the AGE at Rotavirus by the vaccination. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

[Epilepsy and its impact in northwest region of the Central African Republic].

PubMed

Bernet-Bernady, P; Tabo, A; Druet-Cabanac, M; Poumale, F; Ndoma, V; Lao, H; Bouteille, B; Dumas, M; Preux, P M

1997-01-01

In African countries, epilepsy is an important public health problem with major medical, socio-cultural, and economic implications. This study was carried out to evaluate attitudes towards epilepsy in the Central African Republic. A total of 187 epileptic patients were included. Only 20.9% of the study population were married. School attendance never exceeded the elementary level. Epilepsy was active in 98.4% of patients who continued to present attacks despite extensive treatment which was either poorly complied with or inadequate. Attitudes towards epilepsy remain rooted in belief in supernatural phenomenon and evil spirits with use of traditional therapies involving abstinence from certain foods and use of laxative agents to drive out evil forces. Epileptics are excluded from their families and not allowed to attend school but, in our study, they were not prevented from the work place since 70% held jobs. In this study, 54% of epileptics believed that the disease was contagious, 55.6% that it was incurable, and 20.9% that it was due occult or supernatural causes. While precise quantification is impossible, our experience based on interviews with patients and frequent observation of burn wounds suggests that moral and physical suffering is immense among epileptics in the Central African Republic. Epilepsy in Black Africa is a major public health problem requiring serious attention from government officials, health care specialists, and the families of patients. Better information to promote awareness of the non-contagious nature of the disease, greater support for families of patients, and improvement in treatment compliance are essential.

Inclusion keratoconjunctivitis ('pink eye') in sheep. A proposal for a new name for chlamydial keratoconjunctivitis in sheep and comment on recent clinical trials.

PubMed

Bogaard, A E

1984-09-01

The cytoplasmatic inclusion bodies, which, in 1931, Coles discovered in the corneal cells of sheep suffering from contagious keratoconjunctivitis are now considered to be the reticulate bodies of a chlamydia, Colesiota conjunctivae (synonym: Chlamydia psittaci ovis). According to the postulates of Koch Colesiota conjunctivae is a primary cause of contagious keratoconjunctivitis in sheep, but the clinical picture is complex and is a result of the interaction between the infecting chlamydiae, host resistance factors, and secondary infections caused by opportunistic bacterial ocular pathogens. The clinical syndrome might also be caused by other micro-organisms, such as Mycoplasma conjunctivae or environmental factors, such as dust. However, in these cases, cytoplasmatic inclusion bodies cannot be found in the corneal cells of diseased eyes. To differentiate chlamydial keratoconjunctivitis from keratoconjunctivitis due to other causes, it is proposed to include in the name the laboratory findings typical for this disease: Sheep Inclusion Keratoconjunctivitis. Chlamydia are Gram-negative bacteria, which are obligate intracellular parasites. Prolonged treatment seems to be required to eradicate chlamydiae from a host and antibiotics must reach intracellular levels that are higher than their minimum inhibitory concentration for chlamydiae. Tetracyclines are the drugs of choice. This means that for a microbiological cure, diseased sheep must be injected several times a day for a week or more. Because the disease is usually self-limiting and economic losses are considered low, this seems unnecessary and control of the disease by local treatment of secondary infections seems sufficient. However, this will not prevent spreading of the disease in a herd and relapses may occur.

Born to yawn? Cortisol linked to yawning: a new hypothesis.

PubMed

Thompson, Simon B N

2011-11-01

Yawning has become an interesting and curious scientific conundrum. Links between several neurological disorders can be found through the commonality of yawning episodes and contagious yawning. However, the reasons why we yawn are uncertain. Cortisol levels are known to rise during stress and fatigue; yawning may occur when we are under stress or tired. We do not know whether cortisol levels fluctuate during yawning. Potentially, yawning and cortisol levels may provide a valuable diagnostic tool and warning of untoward underlying neurological problems. A new hypothesis is proposed that links cortisol levels with yawning episodes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Crusted scabies: A review].

PubMed

Jouret, G; Bounemeur, R; Presle, A; Takin, R

2016-04-01

Crusted scabies is a rare and severe form of infestation by Sarcoptes scabies var. hominis. It is characterized by profuse hyperkeratosis containing over 4000 mites per gram of skin, with treatment being long and difficult. The condition is both direct and indirectly contagious. It has a central role in epidemic cycles of scabies, the incidence of which is on the rise in economically stable countries. Recent discoveries concerning the biology of mites, the pathophysiology of hyperkeratosis and the key role of IL-17 in this severe form open up new therapeutic perspectives. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

[Notes for a History of Hygiene taken from the Bible].

PubMed

Ledermann, Walter

2016-08-01

Reading once more the Gospels, we found a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisee about the hand washing, this golden rule of medicine, and then, with the help of Thomas Mann, we began a search for other notes on hygiene in the Bible. For the return from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses established several rules for his people, some of them disguised as religious principles, concerning elimination of excreta, healthy and poisonous foods, isolation in case of contagious diseases (leprosy, gonorrhea), decontamination of clothes and houses, and many others that now seem to us ahead his time.

Chronic Wasting Disease

USGS Publications Warehouse

Richards, Bryan

2007-01-01

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an always-fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. Since its discovery in 1967, CWD has spread geographically and increased in prevalence locally. CWD is contagious; it can be transmitted freely within and among free-ranging populations. It is likely that diseased animals can transmit CWD to healthy animals long before they become clinically ill. Managing CWD in free-ranging populations is extremely difficult, therefore preventative measures designed to reduce the chance for disease spread are critically important.

Vaccines in Shelters and Group Settings.

PubMed

Squires, Richard A

2018-03-01

Dogs and cats entering animal shelters are at high risk of acquiring 1 or more contagious infectious diseases. Such animals may be severely stressed, exhausted, and unwell, as well as malnourished and parasitized. The typically high throughput of shelter animals, many of them young and of unknown vaccination status, plays a role. Vaccines are a crucially important part of the management approach to limiting morbidity, mortality, and spread of infection. Guidelines for the use of vaccines in shelters have been published and are reviewed and discussed in this article. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vaccinia Virus Recombinants: Expression of VSV Genes and Protective Immunization of Mice and Cattle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mackett, M.; Yilma, T.; Rose, J. K.; Moss, B.

1985-01-01

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) causes a contagious disease of horses, cattle, and pigs. When DNA copies of messenger RNA's for the G or N proteins of VSV were linked to a vaccinia virus promoter and inserted into the vaccinia genome, the recombinants retained infectivity and synthesized VSV polypeptides. After intradermal vaccination with live recombinant virus expressing the G protein, mice produced VSV-neutralizing antibodies and were protected against lethal encephalitis upon intravenous challenge with VSV. In cattle, the degree of protection against intradermalingually injected VSV was correlated with the level of neutralizing antibody produced following vaccination.

Recurrence of Panic Attacks after Influenza Vaccination: Two Case Reports.

PubMed

Kim, Han-Joon; Jeon, Sang-Won; Yoon, Ho-Kyoung

2016-11-30

Human influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus. The influenza vaccination is recommended annually, but several adverse effects related to allergic reactions have been reported. Panic attacks are also known to occur, but no case of a panic attack adverse effect has been reported in South Korea. We present two cases of panic disorder patients whose symptoms were aggravated by the influenza vaccination. We assumed that dysregulation of T-lymphocytes in panic disorder patients could have a role in activating various kinds of cytokines and chemokines, which then can lead to panic attack aggravation.

Characterization of a new dog isolate of canine distemper virus from China.

PubMed

Qiao, J; Meng, Q; Chen, C; Xia, X; Cai, X; Ren, Y; Zhang, H

2011-01-01

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly contagious pathogen of dogs. Vaccination is an effective way to protect dogs from CDV infection, but occasionally fails. In the present study, a wild type (wt) CDV, named XJ2, was isolated from a dead vaccinated dog. The hemagglutinin (H) gene of the XJ2 was amplified and analyzed for the molecular characteristics including N-glycosylation sites, phylogenesis, hydrophobicity and epitopes. The data indicated that XJ2 was a genetic variant strain of CDV. CDV-sero-negative dogs were inoculated intranasally with XJ2, developed severe clinical symptoms and died, suggesting high virulence.

Infectious Diarrhea: Norovirus and Clostridium difficile in Older Adults.

PubMed

White, Mary B; Rajagopalan, Shobita; Yoshikawa, Thomas T

2016-08-01

Norovirus infection usually results in acute gastroenteritis, often with incapacitating nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is highly contagious and resistant to eradication with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Appropriate preventative and infection control measures can mitigate the morbidity and mortality associated with norovirus infection. Clostridium difficile infection is the leading cause of health care-associated diarrhea in the United States. Antibiotic use is by far the most common risk factor for C difficile colonization and infection. Appropriate preventive measures and judicious use of antibiotics can help mitigate the morbidity and mortality associated with C difficile infection. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The contagious nature of imprisonment: an agent-based model to explain racial disparities in incarceration rates.

PubMed

Lum, Kristian; Swarup, Samarth; Eubank, Stephen; Hawdon, James

2014-09-06

We build an agent-based model of incarceration based on the susceptible-infected-suspectible (SIS) model of infectious disease propagation. Our central hypothesis is that the observed racial disparities in incarceration rates between Black and White Americans can be explained as the result of differential sentencing between the two demographic groups. We demonstrate that if incarceration can be spread through a social influence network, then even relatively small differences in sentencing can result in large disparities in incarceration rates. Controlling for effects of transmissibility, susceptibility and influence network structure, our model reproduces the observed large disparities in incarceration rates given the differences in sentence lengths for White and Black drug offenders in the USA without extensive parameter tuning. We further establish the suitability of the SIS model as applied to incarceration by demonstrating that the observed structural patterns of recidivism are an emergent property of the model. In fact, our model shows a remarkably close correspondence with California incarceration data. This work advances efforts to combine the theories and methods of epidemiology and criminology.

Are U.S. Military Interventions Contagious over Time? Intervention Timing and Its Implications for Force Planning

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

29 3.5. ARIMA Models , Temporal Clustering of Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.6...39 3.9. ARIMA Models ...variance across a distribution. Autoregressive integrated moving average ( ARIMA ) models are used with time-series data sets and are designed to capture

Feeder use predicts both acquisition and transmission of a contagious pathogen in a North American songbird.

PubMed

Adelman, James S; Moyers, Sahnzi C; Farine, Damien R; Hawley, Dana M

2015-09-22

Individual heterogeneity can influence the dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife and humans alike. Thus, recent work has sought to identify behavioural characteristics that contribute disproportionately to individual variation in pathogen acquisition (super-receiving) or transmission (super-spreading). However, it remains unknown whether the same behaviours enhance both acquisition and transmission, a scenario likely to result in explosive epidemics. Here, we examined this possibility in an ecologically relevant host-pathogen system: house finches and their bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, which causes severe conjunctivitis. We examined behaviours likely to influence disease acquisition (feeder use, aggression, social network affiliations) in an observational field study, finding that the time an individual spends on bird feeders best predicted the risk of conjunctivitis. To test whether this behaviour also influences the likelihood of transmitting M. gallisepticum, we experimentally inoculated individuals based on feeding behaviour and tracked epidemics within captive flocks. As predicted, transmission was fastest when birds that spent the most time on feeders initiated the epidemic. Our results suggest that the same behaviour underlies both pathogen acquisition and transmission in this system and potentially others. Identifying individuals that exhibit such behaviours is critical for disease management. © 2015 The Author(s).

Molecular diagnosis of skin infections using paraffin-embedded tissue - review and interdisciplinary consensus.

PubMed

Sunderkötter, Cord; Becker, Karsten; Kutzner, Heinz; Meyer, Thomas; Blödorn-Schlicht, Norbert; Reischl, Udo; Nenoff, Pietro; Geißdörfer, Walter; Gräser, Yvonne; Herrmann, Mathias; Kühn, Joachim; Bogdan, Christian

2018-02-01

Nucleic acid amplification techniques (NATs), such as PCR, are highly sensitive and specific methods that have become valuable supplements to culture and serology in the diagnosis of infectious disorders. However, especially when using formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue, these techniques are associated with both false-negative and false-positive results, a pitfall that is frequently misjudged. Representatives of the German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) and the German Society of Dermatology (DDG) therefore set out to develop a consensus - in the form of a review article - on the appropriate indications for NATs using paraffin-embedded tissue, its contraindications, and the key points to be considered in the pre- and post-analytical phase. Given that fresh, naive tissue is preferably to be used in the workup of a suspected infection, PCR analysis on paraffin sections represents an exception. The latter may be considered if an infection is suspected at a later point in time and fresh tissue has not been preserved or can no longer be obtained. Potential indications include confirmation of histologically suspected infections with Leishmania spp., Bartonella spp., Rickettsia spp., or in case of ecthyma contagiosum. Infections with, for example, mycobacteria or RNA viruses, on the other hand, are not considered useful indications for NATs using paraffin sections. In order to avoid misinterpretation of test results, it is essential that laboratory reports on NATs using paraffin-embedded tissue contain information on the indication/diagnostic circumstances, the required and chosen pre-analytical steps, the limitations of the method, and on diagnostic alternatives. © 2018 Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft (DDG). Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Risk assessment and cost-effectiveness of animal health certification methods for livestock export in Somalia

PubMed Central

Knight-Jones, T.J.D.; Njeumi, F.; Elsawalhy, A.; Wabacha, J.; Rushton, J.

2014-01-01

Livestock export is vital to the Somali economy. To protect Somali livestock exports from costly import bans used to control the international spread of disease, better certification of livestock health status is required. We performed quantitative risk assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis on different health certification protocols for Somali livestock exports for six transboundary diseases. Examining stock at regional markets alone without port inspection and quarantine was inexpensive but was ineffective for all but contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia and peste des petits ruminants. While extended pre-export quarantine improves detection of infections that cause clinical disease, if biosecurity is suboptimal quarantine provides an opportunity for transmission and increased risk. Clinical examination, laboratory screening and vaccination of animals for key diseases before entry to the quarantine station reduced the risk of an exported animal being infected. If vaccination could be reliably performed weeks before arrival at quarantine its effect would be greatly enhanced. The optimal certification method depends on the disease. Laboratory diagnostic testing was particularly important for detecting infections with limited clinical signs in male animals (only males are exported); for Rift Valley fever (RVF) the probability of detection was 99% or 0% with and without testing. Based on our findings animal inspection and certification at regional markets combined with quarantine inspection and certification would reduce the risk of exporting infected animals and enhance disease control at the regional level. This is especially so for key priority diseases, that is RVF, foot-and-mouth disease and Brucellosis. Increased data collection and testing should be applied at point of production and export. PMID:24462194

Epilepsy in children and adolescents: Disease concepts, practical knowledge, and coping.

PubMed

Pauschek, Josefine; Bernhard, Matthias K; Syrbe, Steffen; Nickel, Petra; Neininger, Martina P; Merkenschlager, Andreas; Kiess, Wieland; Bertsche, Thilo; Bertsche, Astrid

2016-06-01

Children suffering from epilepsy face severe difficulties in daily life. However, data about the self-assessment of children are scarce. From October 2013 to February 2014, patients aged 6-18years suffering from epilepsy were consecutively invited (i) to take part in a structured interview and (ii) to draw a picture about their self-assessment of epilepsy. Eighty-four children and their parents agreed to participate: (i) 63/84 (75%) of the children named their disease correctly; contagiousness was assumed by 8/84 (10%); 81/84 (96%) knew whether they have to take medication; 36/69 (52%) of the children taking long-term medication reported the name(s) of their medication; 8/69 (12%) believed that their medication will cure their disease; 45/84 (54%) named specific precautions to prevent harm from seizures; 6/84 (7%) believed that nonadherence to safety precautions would cause new seizures; and 23/84 (27%) believed that they are worse off than healthy children. (ii) 67/84 (80%) drew a picture titled "This is how I feel when I have a seizure". Specific symptoms [17/67 (25%)] and the interaction between child and environment [12/67 (18%)] were the most common subjects. Most children with epilepsy had rather good knowledge about medication; half of the children knew specific safety precautions. The children were often able to describe their seizures well. Pictures drawn by patients can give an insight into their experiences. Teaching programs should, among others, address the fear of contagiousness of epilepsy in some children and the fact that children with epilepsy might feel disadvantaged. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An assessment of external biosecurity on Southern Ontario swine farms and its application to surveillance on a geographic level.

PubMed

Bottoms, Kate; Poljak, Zvonimir; Friendship, Robert; Deardon, Rob; Alsop, Janet; Dewey, Cate

2013-10-01

Risk-based surveillance is becoming increasingly important in the veterinary and public health fields. It serves as a means of increasing surveillance sensitivity and improving cost-effectiveness in an increasingly resource-limited environment. Our approach for developing a tool for the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious diseases of swine incorporates information about animal density and external biosecurity practices within swine herds in southern Ontario. The objectives of this study were to group the sample of herds into discrete biosecurity groups, to develop a map of southern Ontario that can be used as a tool in the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious swine diseases, and to identify significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. A subset of external biosecurity variables was selected for 2-step cluster analysis and latent class analysis (LCA). It was determined that 4 was the best number of groups to describe the data, using both analytical approaches. The authors named these groups: i) high biosecurity herds that were open with respect to replacement animals; ii) high biosecurity herds that were closed with respect to replacement animals; iii) moderate biosecurity herds; and iv) low biosecurity herds. The risk map was developed using information about the geographic distribution of herds in the biosecurity groups, as well as the density of swine sites and of grower-finisher pigs in the study region. Finally, multinomial logistic regression identified heat production units (HPUs), number of incoming pig shipments per month, and herd type as significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. It was concluded that the ability to identify areas of high and low risk for disease may improve the success of surveillance and eradication projects.

Prevalence of Bovine Mastitis Pathogens in Bulk Tank Milk in China

PubMed Central

Wang, Ya Jing; Qin, Yun; Guix Vallverdú, Roger; Maldonado García, Jaime; Sun, Wei; Li, Shengli; Cao, Zhijun

2016-01-01

The objectives of this study were to estimate the herd prevalence of major mastitis pathogens in bulk tank milk (BTM) in China dairy herds, to determine the relationship between the presence of mastitis pathogens and bulk tank milk somatic cell counts (BTSCC), and to investigate the impact of different dairy cattle farming modes and region on bacterial species. BTM samples collected from 894 dairy herds in China were examined for the presence of mastitis pathogens. The Flinders Technology Associates (FTA) cards were used for BTM sample collection, storage, and transportation and bacterial DNA amplification by real-time PCR. Among contagious pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae were detected in 50.1, 92.2, and 72.3% of the 894 BTM samples, respectively. Among environmental pathogens, E. coli, Streptococcus uberis, Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Serratia marcescens, Corynebacterium bovis, and Arcanobacterium pyogenes were detected in 28.6, 8.9, 35.7, 20.0, 1.3, 17.0, and 67.2% of the BTM samples, respectively. Staphylococcal β-lactamase gene was detected in 61.7% of the BTM samples. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus and Arcanobacterium pyogenes were significantly associated with high BTSCC, respectively. Significant differences were found in presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus dysgalactiae in BTM sampled from the small household farms, dairy-farming communities, and large-scaled dairy farms. There were significant differences in the presence of Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Arcanobacterium pyogenes, staphylococcal β-lactamase gene, Staphylococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterococcus spp., and Streptococcus uberis in BTM among Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, and Hebei province. In conclusion, contagious mammary pathogens are predominated among pathogens in BTM samples in China. PMID:27187065

Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings.

PubMed

Towers, Sherry; Gomez-Lievano, Andres; Khan, Maryam; Mubayi, Anuj; Castillo-Chavez, Carlos

2015-01-01

Several past studies have found that media reports of suicides and homicides appear to subsequently increase the incidence of similar events in the community, apparently due to the coverage planting the seeds of ideation in at-risk individuals to commit similar acts. Here we explore whether or not contagion is evident in more high-profile incidents, such as school shootings and mass killings (incidents with four or more people killed). We fit a contagion model to recent data sets related to such incidents in the US, with terms that take into account the fact that a school shooting or mass murder may temporarily increase the probability of a similar event in the immediate future, by assuming an exponential decay in contagiousness after an event. We find significant evidence that mass killings involving firearms are incented by similar events in the immediate past. On average, this temporary increase in probability lasts 13 days, and each incident incites at least 0.30 new incidents (p = 0.0015). We also find significant evidence of contagion in school shootings, for which an incident is contagious for an average of 13 days, and incites an average of at least 0.22 new incidents (p = 0.0001). All p-values are assessed based on a likelihood ratio test comparing the likelihood of a contagion model to that of a null model with no contagion. On average, mass killings involving firearms occur approximately every two weeks in the US, while school shootings occur on average monthly. We find that state prevalence of firearm ownership is significantly associated with the state incidence of mass killings with firearms, school shootings, and mass shootings.

Contagion in Mass Killings and School Shootings

PubMed Central

Towers, Sherry; Gomez-Lievano, Andres; Khan, Maryam; Mubayi, Anuj; Castillo-Chavez, Carlos

2015-01-01

Background Several past studies have found that media reports of suicides and homicides appear to subsequently increase the incidence of similar events in the community, apparently due to the coverage planting the seeds of ideation in at-risk individuals to commit similar acts. Methods Here we explore whether or not contagion is evident in more high-profile incidents, such as school shootings and mass killings (incidents with four or more people killed). We fit a contagion model to recent data sets related to such incidents in the US, with terms that take into account the fact that a school shooting or mass murder may temporarily increase the probability of a similar event in the immediate future, by assuming an exponential decay in contagiousness after an event. Conclusions We find significant evidence that mass killings involving firearms are incented by similar events in the immediate past. On average, this temporary increase in probability lasts 13 days, and each incident incites at least 0.30 new incidents (p = 0.0015). We also find significant evidence of contagion in school shootings, for which an incident is contagious for an average of 13 days, and incites an average of at least 0.22 new incidents (p = 0.0001). All p-values are assessed based on a likelihood ratio test comparing the likelihood of a contagion model to that of a null model with no contagion. On average, mass killings involving firearms occur approximately every two weeks in the US, while school shootings occur on average monthly. We find that state prevalence of firearm ownership is significantly associated with the state incidence of mass killings with firearms, school shootings, and mass shootings. PMID:26135941

An assessment of external biosecurity on southern Ontario swine farms and its application to surveillance on a geographic level

PubMed Central

Bottoms, Kate; Poljak, Zvonimir; Friendship, Robert; Deardon, Rob; Alsop, Janet; Dewey, Cate

2013-01-01

Risk-based surveillance is becoming increasingly important in the veterinary and public health fields. It serves as a means of increasing surveillance sensitivity and improving cost-effectiveness in an increasingly resource-limited environment. Our approach for developing a tool for the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious diseases of swine incorporates information about animal density and external biosecurity practices within swine herds in southern Ontario. The objectives of this study were to group the sample of herds into discrete biosecurity groups, to develop a map of southern Ontario that can be used as a tool in the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious swine diseases, and to identify significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. A subset of external biosecurity variables was selected for 2-step cluster analysis and latent class analysis (LCA). It was determined that 4 was the best number of groups to describe the data, using both analytical approaches. The authors named these groups: i) high biosecurity herds that were open with respect to replacement animals; ii) high biosecurity herds that were closed with respect to replacement animals; iii) moderate biosecurity herds; and iv) low biosecurity herds. The risk map was developed using information about the geographic distribution of herds in the biosecurity groups, as well as the density of swine sites and of grower-finisher pigs in the study region. Finally, multinomial logistic regression identified heat production units (HPUs), number of incoming pig shipments per month, and herd type as significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. It was concluded that the ability to identify areas of high and low risk for disease may improve the success of surveillance and eradication projects. PMID:24124266

Personal hygiene among military personnel: developing and testing a self-administered scale.

PubMed

Saffari, Mohsen; Koenig, Harold G; Pakpour, Amir H; Sanaeinasab, Hormoz; Jahan, Hojat Rshidi; Sehlo, Mohammad Gamal

2014-03-01

Good personal hygiene (PH) behavior is recommended to prevent contagious diseases, and members of military forces may be at high risk for contracting contagious diseases. The aim of this study was to develop and test a new questionnaire on PH for soldiers. Participants were all male and from different military settings throughout Iran. Using a five-stage guideline, a panel of experts in the Persian language (Farsi) developed a 21-item self-administered questionnaire. Face and content validity of the first-draft items were assessed. The questionnaire was then translated and subsequently back-translated into English, and both the Farsi and English versions were tested in pilot studies. The consistency and stability of the questionnaire were tested using Cronbach's alpha and the test-retest strategy. The final scale was administered to a sample of 502 military personnel. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses evaluated the structure of the scale. Both the convergent and discriminative validity of the scale were also determined. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were >0.85. Principal component analysis demonstrated a uni-dimensional structure that explained 59 % of the variance in PH behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit (goodness-of-fit index = 0.902; comparative fitness index = 0.923; root mean square error of approximation = 0.0085). The results show that this new PH scale has solid psychometric properties for testing PH behaviors among an Iranian sample of military personnel. We conclude that this scale can be a useful tool for assessing PH behaviors in military personnel. Further research is needed to determine the scale's value in other countries and cultures.

Comparison of four diagnostic tests for the identification of serum antibodies in small ruminants infected with Mycoplasma agalactiae.

PubMed

Kittelberger, R; O'Keefe, J S; Meynell, R; Sewell, M; Rosati, S; Lambert, M; Dufour, P; Pépin, M

2006-02-01

To determine the diagnostic capability of a newly developed Western blot (WB) assay for the detection of serum antibodies against Mycoplasma agalactiae compared with conventional serological tests, and to identify the best test for routine diagnostic use. The serological test methods used were: two commercial indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), viz ELISA-1, using a bacterial antigen preparation, and ELISA-2, using a recombinant protein (lipoprotein p48) antigen; the complement fixation test (CFT); and a newly developed WB assay, the latter both using a bacterial antigen preparation. Thirty sera from goats infected with M. agalactiae and 97 sera from non-infected sheep were tested using all four methods. Staining patterns in the WB were quite variable. An immuno-dominant band of 41 kDa was detected in 63% of sera from infected animals. The same band also appeared, although mostly very weakly, in 10% of sera from non-infected animals. When suspicious or very weak reactors were omitted, the diagnostic sensitivity (DSE) and diagnostic specificity (DSP), respectively, for the four assays were: WB=56.7%, 97.9%; ELISA-1=76.7%, 99.0%; ELISA-2=56.7%, 100%; and CFT=40.0%, 94.8%. ELISA-1 performed best in this comparison. While the WB can be used, it did not have a technical advantage over the ELISA. The CFT should be discouraged as the primary screening method for contagious agalactia and should be replaced by ELISA-1. Results from this study confirm that serological test methods for contagious agalactia are useful for the detection of infected flocks but will not detect every individual infected animal.

Cortico-subcortical activation patterns for itch and pain imagery.

PubMed

Mochizuki, Hideki; Baumgärtner, Ulf; Kamping, Sandra; Ruttorf, Michaela; Schad, Lothar R; Flor, Herta; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Treede, Rolf-Detlef

2013-10-01

The imagery of itch and pain evokes emotional responses and covert motor responses (scratching to itch and withdrawal to pain). This suggests some similarity in cerebral mechanisms. However, itch is more socially contagious than pain, as evidenced by the fact that scratching behaviors can be easily initiated by watching itch-inducing situations, whereas withdrawal is less easily initiated by watching painful situations. Thus, we assumed that the cerebral mechanisms of itch imagery partly differ from those of pain imagery in particular with respect to motor regions. We addressed this issue in 18 healthy subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The subjects were instructed to imagine itch and pain sensations in their own bodies while viewing pictures depicting stimuli associated with these sensations. Itch and pain imagery activated the anterior insular cortex (aIC) and motor-related regions such as supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum. Activity in these regions was not significantly different between itch and pain imagery. However, functional connectivity between motor-related regions and the aIC showed marked differences between itch and pain imagery. Connectivity with the aIC was stronger in the primary motor and premotor cortices during pain imagery and stronger in the globus pallidus during itch imagery. These findings indicate that brain regions associated with imagery of itch are the same as those involved in imagery of pain, but their functional networks differ. These differences in brain networks may explain why motor responses to itch are more socially contagious than those related to pain. Copyright © 2013 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Risk assessment and cost-effectiveness of animal health certification methods for livestock export in Somalia.

PubMed

Knight-Jones, T J D; Njeumi, F; Elsawalhy, A; Wabacha, J; Rushton, J

2014-03-01

Livestock export is vital to the Somali economy. To protect Somali livestock exports from costly import bans used to control the international spread of disease, better certification of livestock health status is required. We performed quantitative risk assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis on different health certification protocols for Somali livestock exports for six transboundary diseases. Examining stock at regional markets alone without port inspection and quarantine was inexpensive but was ineffective for all but contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia and peste des petits ruminants. While extended pre-export quarantine improves detection of infections that cause clinical disease, if biosecurity is suboptimal quarantine provides an opportunity for transmission and increased risk. Clinical examination, laboratory screening and vaccination of animals for key diseases before entry to the quarantine station reduced the risk of an exported animal being infected. If vaccination could be reliably performed weeks before arrival at quarantine its effect would be greatly enhanced. The optimal certification method depends on the disease. Laboratory diagnostic testing was particularly important for detecting infections with limited clinical signs in male animals (only males are exported); for Rift Valley fever (RVF) the probability of detection was 99% or 0% with and without testing. Based on our findings animal inspection and certification at regional markets combined with quarantine inspection and certification would reduce the risk of exporting infected animals and enhance disease control at the regional level. This is especially so for key priority diseases, that is RVF, foot-and-mouth disease and Brucellosis. Increased data collection and testing should be applied at point of production and export. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Weaker dental enamel explains dental decay.

PubMed

Vieira, Alexandre R; Gibson, Carolyn W; Deeley, Kathleen; Xue, Hui; Li, Yong

2015-01-01

Dental caries continues to be the most prevalent bacteria-mediated non-contagious disease of humankind. Dental professionals assert the disease can be explained by poor oral hygiene and a diet rich in sugars but this does not account for caries free individuals exposed to the same risk factors. In order to test the hypothesis that amount of amelogenin during enamel development can influence caries susceptibility, we generated multiple strains of mice with varying levels of available amelogenin during dental development. Mechanical tests showed that dental enamel developed with less amelogenin is "weaker" while the dental enamel of animals over-expressing amelogenin appears to be more resistant to acid dissolution.

Bordetella pertussis, B. parapertussis, vaccines and cycles of whooping cough.

PubMed

Bouchez, Valérie; Guiso, Nicole

2015-10-01

Whooping cough is a vaccine-preventable disease due to Bordetella pertussis and B. parapertussis. This highly contagious respiratory disease occurs through epidemic cycles every 3-5 years and vaccination did not change this frequency. Models suggest that the cyclic increase of susceptibles is linked to demographic differences and different vaccine coverage. However, differences in surveillance of the disease as well as adaptation of the agents of the disease to their human hosts and to vaccine pressure might also play an important role. These parameters are discussed in this review. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Urban characteristics attributable to density-driven tie formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Wei; Ghoshal, Gourab; Krumme, Coco; Cebrian, Manuel; Pentland, Alex

2013-06-01

Motivated by empirical evidence on the interplay between geography, population density and societal interaction, we propose a generative process for the evolution of social structure in cities. Our analytical and simulation results predict both super-linear scaling of social-tie density and information contagion as a function of the population. Here we demonstrate that our model provides a robust and accurate fit for the dependency of city characteristics with city-size, ranging from individual-level dyadic interactions (number of acquaintances, volume of communication) to population level variables (contagious disease rates, patenting activity, economic productivity and crime) without the need to appeal to heterogeneity, modularity, specialization or hierarchy.

Attack of the scabies: what to do when an outbreak occurs.

PubMed

Haag, M L; Brozena, S J; Fenske, N A

1993-10-01

Scabies remains a significant source of morbidity in nursing home residents because of its highly contagious nature. It is characterized by severe pruritus and papules, pustules, burrows, nodules, and occasionally urticarial lesions. Lesions are commonly found on the wrists, finger webs, antecubital fossae, axillae, areolae, periumbilical region, lower abdomen, genitals, and buttocks. Diagnosis is based on the history, physical examination, and demonstration of mites, eggs, or scybala on microscopic examination. Several topical scabicides are available, but permethrin cream appears to be less toxic and more effective in cases that are resistant to other agents. Successful management requires evaluation of individuals with close patient contact.

[Management of lice infestations, recommendations for 2012].

PubMed

Maillard, Alexia; Trellu, Laurence Toutous; Eicher, Nicole; Michaud, Mélanie; Laffitte, Emmanuel

2012-04-04

Pediculosis is the most frequent and contagious ectoparasitic infestation in human, particularly in children from 3 to 8 years of age. Epidemics are observed from time to time, in schools or in adults in prisons. Even though benign, these infections remain unpleasant and can have an important psyco-social impact. Since a few years, caregivers have to face increasing problems while treating lice: appearance of insecticide resistances, lindane's withdrawal from the market and the marketing of new products which are not always well evaluated. This article offers first recalls about pediculoses and then a sum up of the different available treatments with an evidence based management strategy.

The French Egyptian campaign and its effects on ophthalmology.

PubMed

Wagemans, M; van Bijsterveld, O P

1988-01-01

Almost all soldiers of the armies involved in the Egyptian campaign fell victim to what was later called the ophthalmia militaris which we now know to be caused by Haemophilus aegyptius, N. gonorrhoea and possibly to some extent by Chlamydia trachomatis but more likely by the adenoviruses. Because of the enormous incidence of ocular infection and the controversy generated by speculation on the nature of the disease--English surgeons considered this ophthalmia to be of a contagious nature, whereas the French surgeons violently opposed this view-, the interest in diseases of the eye increased, which eventually resulted in the acceptance of ophthalmology as a separate branch of medicine.

Bacteria and vampirism in cinema.

PubMed

Castel, O; Bourry, A; Thévenot, S; Burucoa, C

2013-09-01

A vampire is a non-dead and non-alive chimerical creature, which, according to various folklores and popular superstitions, feeds on blood of the living to draw vital force. Vampires do not reproduce by copulation, but by bite. Vampirism is thus similar to a contagious disease contracted by intravascular inoculation with a suspected microbial origin. In several vampire films, two real bacteria were staged, better integrated than others in popular imagination: Yersinia pestis and Treponema pallidum. Bacillus vampiris was created for science-fiction. These films are attempts to better define humans through one of their greatest fears: infectious disease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Whooping Cough: A Brief History to the 19th Century.

PubMed

Weston, Robert

2012-01-01

This paper examines the history of whooping cough (pertussis) from its first recorded mention in 1190 to the time when its microbial cause was identified. The historical records of the disease are complicated by the variation in the nomenclature employed and through using the same name for disorders with different symptoms. During the early-modern period it was considered to be a disease new to Europe-contagious, dangerous, and potentially epidemic. Believed to be confined to children, its significance was limited until the 18th century when its incidence increased markedly. This essay argues pertussis may have occurred in the late medieval period in individual, though not epidemical, cases.

Overproduction, purification, and biochemical characterization of the dual specificity H1 protein phosphatase encoded by variola major virus.

PubMed

Tropea, Joseph E; Phan, Jason; Waugh, David S

2006-11-01

Smallpox, a highly contagious infectious disease caused by the variola major virus, has an overall mortality rate of about 30%. Because there currently is no specific treatment for smallpox, and the only prevention is vaccination, there is an urgent need for the development of effective antiviral drugs. The dual specificity protein phosphatase encoded by the smallpox virus (H1) is essential for the production of infectious viral particles, making it a promising molecular target for antiviral therapeutics. Here, we report the molecular cloning, overproduction, purification, and initial biochemical characterization of H1 phosphatase, thereby paving the way for the discovery of small molecule inhibitors.

Unraveling the structure of the variola topoisomerase IB-DNA complex: a possible new twist on smallpox therapy.

PubMed

Osheroff, Neil

2006-10-01

Smallpox is a serious and highly contagious disease that is caused by the variola virus. It is one of the most severe infectious human diseases known, with mortality rates as high as 30%. A successful worldwide vaccination program led to the eradication of smallpox in 1980. However, the high transmission rate of variola virus, coupled with the deadly nature of smallpox, makes this virus a potentially devastating weapon for bioterrorism. Currently, there is no specific treatment for smallpox. However, a recent article on the structure of a variola topoisomerase IB-DNA complex provides an intriguing starting point for the rational design of drugs with potential activity against smallpox.

Caries: Review of Human Genetics Research

PubMed Central

Vieira, Alexandre R.; Modesto, Adriana; Marazita, Mary L.

2014-01-01

The NIH Consensus Development Program released a statement in 2001 (NIH Consensus Statement, 2001) and listed six major clinical caries research directions. One of these directions was the need for genetic studies to identify genes and genetic markers of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value. This last decade has seen a steep increase in studies investigating the presence of genetic factors influencing individual susceptibility to caries. This review revisits recent caries human genetic studies and provides a perspective for future studies in order to fulfill their promise of revolutionizing our understanding of and the standard of care for the most prevalent bacteria-mediated non-contagious disease in the world. PMID:24853115