Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 90 in total

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  1. Fulltext No Evidence of Coronaviruses or Other Potentially Zoonotic Viruses in Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) Entering the Wildlife Trade via Malaysia
    Lee J, Hughes T, Lee MH, Field H, Rovie-Ryan JJ, Sitam FT, et al.
    Ecohealth, 2020 09;17(3):406-418.
    PMID: 33226526 DOI: 10.1007/s10393-020-01503-x
    The legal and illegal trade in wildlife for food, medicine and other products is a globally significant threat to biodiversity that is also responsible for the emergence of pathogens that threaten human and livestock health and our global economy. Trade in wildlife likely played a role in the origin of COVID-19, and viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 have been identified in bats and pangolins, both traded widely. To investigate the possible role of pangolins as a source of potential zoonoses, we collected throat and rectal swabs from 334 Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) confiscated in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah between August 2009 and March 2019. Total nucleic acid was extracted for viral molecular screening using conventional PCR protocols used to routinely identify known and novel viruses in extensive prior sampling (> 50,000 mammals). No sample yielded a positive PCR result for any of the targeted viral families-Coronaviridae, Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Orthomyxoviridae and Paramyxoviridae. In the light of recent reports of coronaviruses including a SARS-CoV-2-related virus in Sunda pangolins in China, the lack of any coronavirus detection in our 'upstream' market chain samples suggests that these detections in 'downstream' animals more plausibly reflect exposure to infected humans, wildlife or other animals within the wildlife trade network. While confirmatory serologic studies are needed, it is likely that Sunda pangolins are incidental hosts of coronaviruses. Our findings further support the importance of ending the trade in wildlife globally.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/virology
  2. The ecology of emerging neurotropic viruses
    Olival KJ, Daszak P
    J Neurovirol, 2005 Oct;11(5):441-6.
    PMID: 16287685
    The authors review common themes in the ecology of emerging viruses that cause neurological disease. Three issues emerge. First, 49% of emerging viruses are characterized by encephalitis or serious neurological clinical symptoms. Second, all of these viruses are driven to emerge by ecological, environmental, or human demographic changes, some of which are poorly understood. Finally, the control of these viruses would be enhanced by collaborative multidisciplinary research into these drivers of emergence. The authors highlight this review with a case study of Nipah virus, which emerged in Malaysia due largely to shifts in livestock production and alterations to reservoir host habitat. Collaboration between virologists, ecologists, disease modelers and wildlife biologists has been instrumental in retracing the factors involved in this virus's emergence.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/virology
  3. [How dangerous is avian flu for mankind?]
    Allwinn R, Doerr HW
    Med. Klin. (Munich), 2005 Nov 15;100(11):710-3.
    PMID: 16328178
    Avian influenza, an infectious disease of birds, is caused by type A strain of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide. Avian influenza viruses are mainly distributed by migratory birds. Various animals like birds, pigs, horses, sea mammals and, finally, humans are susceptible to influenza A viruses. The high possibility of genomic changes like gene shift and drift are caused by the segmented RNA genome.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  4. Fulltext Henipavirus RNA in African bats
    Drexler JF, Corman VM, Gloza-Rausch F, Seebens A, Annan A, Ipsen A, et al.
    PLoS One, 2009;4(7):e6367.
    PMID: 19636378 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006367
    Henipaviruses (Hendra and Nipah virus) are highly pathogenic members of the family Paramyxoviridae. Fruit-eating bats of the Pteropus genus have been suggested as their natural reservoir. Human Henipavirus infections have been reported in a region extending from Australia via Malaysia into Bangladesh, compatible with the geographic range of Pteropus. These bats do not occur in continental Africa, but a whole range of other fruit bats is encountered. One of the most abundant is Eidolon helvum, the African Straw-coloured fruit bat.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  5. Outbreak of Japanese encephalitis hits Malaysia
    Easton A
    BMJ, 1999 Apr 03;318(7188):893.
    PMID: 10102839 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.318.7188.893a
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  6. The silvered leaf monkey as a natural host of the lung mite, Pneumonyssus simicola Banks, (Acarina: Halarachnidae) in Malaysia: a preliminary report
    Stiller D, Sirimanne RA, Roberts CR, Eluthesen K
    Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1974 Sep;5(3):458.
    PMID: 4215150
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/parasitology
  7. Emerging diseases. Malaysian researchers trace Nipah virus outbreak to bats
    Enserink M
    Science, 2000 Jul 28;289(5479):518-9.
    PMID: 10939954 DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5479.518
    Scientists are a step closer to unraveling a medical mystery that killed 105 people in Malaysia last year and destroyed the country's pig industry. The Nipah virus, which caused the disease, most likely originated in a native fruit bat species, Malaysian researchers reported here at a meeting last week. They say the findings will help Malaysian health authorities prevent future outbreaks of the Nipah virus. Others see the case as an argument for expanding research into infections that can leap the boundary between animals and humans.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs*
  8. Bats and emerging zoonoses: henipaviruses and SARS
    Field HE
    Zoonoses Public Health, 2009 Aug;56(6-7):278-84.
    PMID: 19497090 DOI: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2008.01218.x
    Nearly 75% of all emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) that impact or threaten human health are zoonotic. The majority have spilled from wildlife reservoirs, either directly to humans or via domestic animals. The emergence of many can be attributed to predisposing factors such as global travel, trade, agricultural expansion, deforestation/habitat fragmentation, and urbanization; such factors increase the interface and/or the rate of contact between human, domestic animal, and wildlife populations, thereby creating increased opportunities for spillover events to occur. Infectious disease emergence can be regarded as primarily an ecological process. The epidemiological investigation of EIDs associated with wildlife requires a trans-disciplinary approach that includes an understanding of the ecology of the wildlife species, and an understanding of human behaviours that increase risk of exposure. Investigations of the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia in 1999 and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China in 2003 provide useful case studies. The emergence of Nipah virus was associated with the increased size and density of commercial pig farms and their encroachment into forested areas. The movement of pigs for sale and slaughter in turn led to the rapid spread of infection to southern peninsular Malaysia, where the high-density, largely urban pig populations facilitated transmission to humans. Identifying the factors associated with the emergence of SARS in southern China requires an understanding of the ecology of infection both in the natural reservoir and in secondary market reservoir species. A necessary extension of understanding the ecology of the reservoir is an understanding of the trade, and of the social and cultural context of wildlife consumption. Emerging infectious diseases originating from wildlife populations will continue to threaten public health. Mitigating and managing the risk requires an appreciation of the connectedness between human, livestock and wildlife health, and of the factors and processes that disrupt the balance.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/veterinary
  9. The application of one health approaches to henipavirus research
    Hayman DT, Gurley ES, Pulliam JR, Field HE
    Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 2013;365:155-70.
    PMID: 23160861 DOI: 10.1007/82_2012_276
    Henipaviruses cause fatal infection in humans and domestic animals. Transmission from fruit bats, the wildlife reservoirs of henipaviruses, is putatively driven (at least in part) by anthropogenic changes that alter host ecology. Human and domestic animal fatalities occur regularly in Asia and Australia, but recent findings suggest henipaviruses are present in bats across the Old World tropics. We review the application of the One Health approach to henipavirus research in three locations: Australia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. We propose that by recognising and addressing the complex interaction among human, domestic animal and wildlife systems, research within the One Health paradigm will be more successful in mitigating future human and domestic animal deaths from henipavirus infection than alternative single-discipline approaches.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  10. Protozoan and helminth parasites of small wild mammals in a new Felda settlement Jenderak Utara, Central Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia
    Fong YL, Liat LB, de Witt GF, Krishnasamy M, Sivanandam S, Foong PY
    Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1977 Sep;8(3):345-53.
    PMID: 415370
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  11. The rabies situation in Far East Asia
    Fu ZF
    Dev Biol (Basel), 2008;131:55-61.
    PMID: 18634466
    This study evaluated rabies epidemiology in Far EastAsia. Questionnaires were sent by the OIE to Far East Asian countries and eight questionnaires were returned. Data were collected from these returns, as well as from recent publications, to gather information regarding rabies epidemiology in these countries. More than 29,000 human deaths were reported in 2006 in Far East Asia, representing more than 50% of all human rabies cases around the globe. There are only a few countries or regions from which no human rabies was reported in 2006 such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In many of these rabies endemic countries, the number of human rabies cases has not changed much during the past decade. The only country with a steady decline is Thailand, where the number of cases has decreased from around 200 to about 20 cases per year. The most dramatic changes were observed in China. Human rabies cases declined from around 5,000 cases per year in the 1980s to about 160 in the mid-1990s. However, these trends have since been reversed. A steady increase has been reported over the past 10 years with more than 3,200 cases reported in 2006. Although there are many factors that contribute to the epidemic or endemic nature of rabies in these countries, the single most important factor is the failure to immunize domestic dogs, which transmit rabies to humans. Dog vaccination is at or below 5% in many of these countries, and cannot stop the transmission of rabies from dogs to dogs, thus to humans. It is thus most importantforthese countries to initiate mass vaccination campaigns in dog populations in order to stop the occurrence of human rabies in Far East Asia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/veterinary*; Disease Reservoirs/virology
  12. "Back to the Jungle": Investigating Rats, Grass, Scrub Typhus, and Plantations in Malaya, 1924 - 1974
    Greatrex JE
    Med Anthropol, 2023 May 19;42(4):340-353.
    PMID: 37022723 DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2023.2185887
    In this article, I examine epidemiological research into scrub typhus in British Malaya between 1924 and 1974. Interwar research, I show, explained the incidence of the disease through conjunctions of rats, mites, plantations, lalang grass, and "jungle." In the process, interwar researchers bridged a novel scientific vocabulary centering on disease "reservoirs" with older suspicions of plantations enabling "pests," as well as with a later, explicitly ecological understanding of infectious disease. In exploring this history I thereby help to re-historicize the emergence of ecological notions of disease reservoirs, whilst also pushing at the limit-points of influential notions of "tropicality."
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  13. Fulltext Interdisciplinary approaches to understanding disease emergence: the past, present, and future drivers of Nipah virus emergence
    Daszak P, Zambrana-Torrelio C, Bogich TL, Fernandez M, Epstein JH, Murray KA, et al.
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2013 Feb 26;110 Suppl 1:3681-8.
    PMID: 22936052 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1201243109
    Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose a significant threat to human health, economic stability, and biodiversity. Despite this, the mechanisms underlying disease emergence are still not fully understood, and control measures rely heavily on mitigating the impact of EIDs after they have emerged. Here, we highlight the emergence of a zoonotic Henipavirus, Nipah virus, to demonstrate the interdisciplinary and macroecological approaches necessary to understand EID emergence. Previous work suggests that Nipah virus emerged due to the interaction of the wildlife reservoir (Pteropus spp. fruit bats) with intensively managed livestock. The emergence of this and other henipaviruses involves interactions among a suite of anthropogenic environmental changes, socioeconomic factors, and changes in demography that overlay and interact with the distribution of these pathogens in their wildlife reservoirs. Here, we demonstrate how ecological niche modeling may be used to investigate the potential role of a changing climate on the future risk for Henipavirus emergence. We show that the distribution of Henipavirus reservoirs, and therefore henipaviruses, will likely change under climate change scenarios, a fundamental precondition for disease emergence in humans. We assess the variation among climate models to estimate where Henipavirus host distribution is most likely to expand, contract, or remain stable, presenting new risks for human health. We conclude that there is substantial potential to use this modeling framework to explore the distribution of wildlife hosts under a changing climate. These approaches may directly inform current and future management and surveillance strategies aiming to improve pathogen detection and, ultimately, reduce emergence risk.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  14. Fulltext High diversity of picornaviruses in rats from different continents revealed by deep sequencing
    Hansen TA, Mollerup S, Nguyen NP, White NE, Coghlan M, Alquezar-Planas DE, et al.
    Emerg Microbes Infect, 2016 Aug 17;5(8):e90.
    PMID: 27530749 DOI: 10.1038/emi.2016.90
    Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases in humans and livestock are not uncommon, and an important component in containment of such emerging viral diseases is rapid and reliable diagnostics. Such methods are often PCR-based and hence require the availability of sequence data from the pathogen. Rattus norvegicus (R. norvegicus) is a known reservoir for important zoonotic pathogens. Transmission may be direct via contact with the animal, for example, through exposure to its faecal matter, or indirectly mediated by arthropod vectors. Here we investigated the viral content in rat faecal matter (n=29) collected from two continents by analyzing 2.2 billion next-generation sequencing reads derived from both DNA and RNA. Among other virus families, we found sequences from members of the Picornaviridae to be abundant in the microbiome of all the samples. Here we describe the diversity of the picornavirus-like contigs including near-full-length genomes closely related to the Boone cardiovirus and Theiler's encephalomyelitis virus. From this study, we conclude that picornaviruses within R. norvegicus are more diverse than previously recognized. The virome of R. norvegicus should be investigated further to assess the full potential for zoonotic virus transmission.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs*
  15. Risk mapping of dengue in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    Hassan H, Shohaimi S, Hashim NR
    Geospat Health, 2012 Nov;7(1):21-5.
    PMID: 23242677
    Dengue fever is a recurring public health problem afflicting thousands of Malaysians annually. In this paper, the risk map for dengue fever in the peninsular Malaysian states of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur was modelled based on co-kriging and geographical information systems. Using population density and rainfall as the model's only input factors, the area with the highest risk for dengue infection was given as Gombak and Petaling, two districts located on opposite sides of Kuala Lumpur city that was also included in the risk assessment. Comparison of the modelled risk map with the dengue case dataset of 2010, obtained from the Ministry of Health of Malaysia, confirmed that the highest number of cases had been found in an area centred on Kuala Lumpur as predicted our risk profiling.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/virology*
  16. Fulltext Defining the geographical range of the Plasmodium knowlesi reservoir
    Moyes CL, Henry AJ, Golding N, Huang Z, Singh B, Baird JK, et al.
    PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2014 Mar;8(3):e2780.
    PMID: 24676231 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002780
    BACKGROUND: The simian malaria parasite, Plasmodium knowlesi, can cause severe and fatal disease in humans yet it is rarely included in routine public health reporting systems for malaria and its geographical range is largely unknown. Because malaria caused by P. knowlesi is a truly neglected tropical disease, there are substantial obstacles to defining the geographical extent and risk of this disease. Information is required on the occurrence of human cases in different locations, on which non-human primates host this parasite and on which vectors are able to transmit it to humans. We undertook a systematic review and ranked the existing evidence, at a subnational spatial scale, to investigate the potential geographical range of the parasite reservoir capable of infecting humans.

    METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: After reviewing the published literature we identified potential host and vector species and ranked these based on how informative they are for the presence of an infectious parasite reservoir, based on current evidence. We collated spatial data on parasite occurrence and the ranges of the identified host and vector species. The ranked spatial data allowed us to assign an evidence score to 475 subnational areas in 19 countries and we present the results on a map of the Southeast and South Asia region.

    CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have ranked subnational areas within the potential disease range according to evidence for presence of a disease risk to humans, providing geographical evidence to support decisions on prevention, management and prophylaxis. This work also highlights the unknown risk status of large parts of the region. Within this unknown category, our map identifies which areas have most evidence for the potential to support an infectious reservoir and are therefore a priority for further investigation. Furthermore we identify geographical areas where further investigation of putative host and vector species would be highly informative for the region-wide assessment.

    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs*
  17. Arbovirus infections in Sarawak, October 1968--February 1970: Japanese encephalitis virus isolations from mosquitoes
    Simpson DI, Bowen ET, Way HJ, Platt GS, Hill MN, Kamath S, et al.
    Ann Trop Med Parasitol, 1974 Dec;68(4):393-404.
    PMID: 4155608
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs
  18. Arbovirus infections in Sarawak: the role of the domestic pig
    Simpson DI, Smith CE, Marshall TF, Platt GS, Way HJ, Bowen ET, et al.
    Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 1976;70(1):66-72.
    PMID: 1265821
    The possible role of pigs as arbovirus maintenance hosts and their importance as amplifier hosts was studied. Blood samples from 464 pigs of all ages collected in 1962 and 1964 were tested against 10 arboviruses. Antibodies to Japanese encephalitis and Getah viruses were particularly prevalent and their calculated monthly infection rates were 19-5% and 13-3% respectively. In 1969, 447 pigs were bled monthly throughout the year and the infection rates for Japanese encephalitis virus were calculated in pigs during the first year of life. Infection rates were not uniform throughout the year; the rate increases as the pig grew older and there was a marked seasonal increase in the infection rate in the period from November to January. This coincided with the seasonal major population peak of Culex tritaeniorhynchus following intense breeding of this mosquito prior to rice planting. It is suggested that, in Sarawak, the pig acts as a maintenance host of Japanese encephalitis in a cycle involving C. gelidus mosquitoes and also acts as an important amplifier host towards the end of the year in a cycle involving C. tritaeniorhynchus. It is further suggested that Getah virus is maintained in a similar cycle between C. tritaeniorhynchus and pigs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs*
  19. Fulltext Characterization of Nipah virus from naturally infected Pteropus vampyrus bats, Malaysia
    Rahman SA, Hassan SS, Olival KJ, Mohamed M, Chang LY, Hassan L, et al.
    Emerg Infect Dis, 2010 Dec;16(12):1990-3.
    PMID: 21122240 DOI: 10.3201/eid1612.091790
    We isolated and characterized Nipah virus (NiV) from Pteropus vampyrus bats, the putative reservoir for the 1998 outbreak in Malaysia, and provide evidence of viral recrudescence. This isolate is monophyletic with previous NiVs in combined analysis, and the nucleocapsid gene phylogeny species.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/virology*
  20. Fulltext Pteropid bats are confirmed as the reservoir hosts of henipaviruses: a comprehensive experimental study of virus transmission
    Halpin K, Hyatt AD, Fogarty R, Middleton D, Bingham J, Epstein JH, et al.
    Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2011 Nov;85(5):946-51.
    PMID: 22049055 DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.2011.10-0567
    Bats of the genus Pteropus have been identified as the reservoir hosts for the henipaviruses Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV). The aim of these studies was to assess likely mechanisms for henipaviruses transmission from bats. In a series of experiments, Pteropus bats from Malaysia and Australia were inoculated with NiV and HeV, respectively, by natural routes of infection. Despite an intensive sampling strategy, no NiV was recovered from the Malaysian bats and HeV was reisolated from only one Australian bat; no disease was seen. These experiments suggest that opportunities for henipavirus transmission may be limited; therefore, the probability of a spillover event is low. For spillover to occur, a range of conditions and events must coincide. An alternate assessment framework is required if we are to fully understand how this reservoir host maintains and transmits not only these but all viruses with which it has been associated.
    Matched MeSH terms: Disease Reservoirs/veterinary*
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