Emerging Pathogen in Wild Amphibians and Frogs (Rana catesbeiana) Farmed for International Trade

Chytridiomycosis is an emerging disease responsible for global decline and extinction of amphibians. We report the causative agent, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in North American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) farmed for the international restaurant trade. Our findings suggest that international trade may play a key role in the global dissemination of this and other emerging infectious diseases in wildlife

An Economic and Policy Framework for Pandemic Control and Prevention

Pandemics have a long history in our global population, from the Justinian Plague of AD541-2 through the Black Death of the middle ages to the 1918 flu and a series of recent infections such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and Ebola. Pandemics are diseases with global spread, meaning they typically affect more than one continent. Historical reviews of the natural history of pandemics suggest some common themes: 1) in the majority of cases, they are caused by diseases that were previously unknown; 2) they often exploit new travel and trade networks; and 3) they frequently originate in wildlife species in remote regions. With the growing interface between human populations and wildlife species, and increases in globalization and air travel, it is likely that pandemic incidences will only become more frequent. Understanding what brings a disease into a population and causes it to evolve the ability for sustained human-to-human transmission can provide a potential policy framework for preventing pandemics because intervention strategies can be tailored to reduce the threat at its origin. However, before we can enact policies, we need to understand when and where to act and how much they will cost

Integrating invasion and disease in the risk assessment of live bird trade.

AimInternational trade in plants and animals generates significant economic benefits. It also leads to substantial unintended impacts when introduced species become invasive, causing environmental disturbance or transmitting diseases that affect people, livestock, other wildlife or the environment. Policy responses are usually only implemented after these species become established and damages are already incurred. International agreements to control trade are likewise usually based on selection of species with known impacts. We aim to further develop quantitative invasive species risk assessment for bird imports and extend the tool to explicitly address disease threats.LocationUnited States of America.MethodsWe use a two-step approach for rapid risk assessment based on the expected biological risks due to both the environmental and health impact of a potentially invasive wildlife species in trade. We assess establishment probability based on a model informed by historical observations and then construct a model of emerging infectious disease threat based on economic and ecological characteristics of the exporting country.ResultsWe illustrate how our rapid assessment tool can be used to identify high-priority species for regulation based on a combination of the threat they pose for becoming established and vectoring emerging infectious diseases.Main conclusionsOur approach can be executed for a species in a matter of days and is nested in an economic decision-making framework for determining whether the biological risk is justified by trade benefits

Bushmeat Hunting, Deforestation, and Prediction of Zoonotic Disease

Integrating virology, ecology, and other disciplines enhances prediction of new emerging zoonoses

Prediction and prevention of the next pandemic zoonosis.

Most pandemics--eg, HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, pandemic influenza--originate in animals, are caused by viruses, and are driven to emerge by ecological, behavioural, or socioeconomic changes. Despite their substantial effects on global public health and growing understanding of the process by which they emerge, no pandemic has been predicted before infecting human beings. We review what is known about the pathogens that emerge, the hosts that they originate in, and the factors that drive their emergence. We discuss challenges to their control and new efforts to predict pandemics, target surveillance to the most crucial interfaces, and identify prevention strategies. New mathematical modelling, diagnostic, communications, and informatics technologies can identify and report hitherto unknown microbes in other species, and thus new risk assessment approaches are needed to identify microbes most likely to cause human disease. We lay out a series of research and surveillance opportunities and goals that could help to overcome these challenges and move the global pandemic strategy from response to pre-emption

Review of Bats and SARS

TOC Summary: The discovery of SARS-like coronaviruses in horseshoe bats highlights the possibility of future outbreaks caused by different coronaviruses of bat origin

Comparison of Intravenous Medetomidine and Medetomidine/Ketamine for Immobilization of Free-Ranging Variable Flying Foxes (Pteropus hypomelanus)

Medetomidine (0.03 mg/kg) and medetomidine/ketamine (0.05/5.0 and 0.025/2.5 mg/kg), administered by intravenous injection, were evaluated for short-term immobilization of wild-caught variable flying foxes (Pteropus hypomelanus). Medetomidine alone produced incomplete chemical restraint and a stressful, prolonged induction. Both ketamine/medetomidine doses produced a smooth induction and complete immobilization. The combined medetomidine/ketamine dose of 0.025/2.5 mg/kg produced a rapid induction (232±224 sec) with minimal struggling and vocalization, a complete and effective immobilization period, and tended to lead to a faster and better quality recovery than medetomidine alone or a higher dose of medetomidine and ketamine (0.05/5.0 mg/kg), thus reducing holding time and permitting an earlier release of the bat back into the wild

Corrigendum to "Global correlates of emerging zoonoses: Anthropogenic, environmental, and biodiversity risk factors" [Int. J. Infect. Dis. 53 (Supplement) (December 2016) 21]

The authors regret that Dr Moreno di Marco's name was published with errors in the original abstract. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused