Dog Bites in Humans and Estimating Human Rabies Mortality in Rabies Endemic Areas of Bhutan

Dog bites in humans are a public health problem worldwide. We conducted a hospital based questionnaire survey and described the incidence and risk factors for human dog bites in Bhutan. We also estimated the human death rate attributable to rabies in two rabies endemic areas of south Bhutan. Our study shows that dog bites incidents in humans are common in the survey areas. There were significant gender and age differences in bite incidents; males and the children are affected the most. The majority of the victims were bitten by stray dogs, increasing the risk of rabies infection if not treated in time. Our decision tree model predicted 2.23 (95% CI: 1.20–3.59) human deaths from rabies/year, equivalent to an annual incidence of 4.67 (95% CI: 2.53–7.53) deaths/100,000 in the two rabies endemic areas of south Bhutan. In the absence of post exposure prophylaxis, the model predicted 19.24 (95% CI: 13.69–25.14) deaths/year in these two areas. The public should be encouraged to visit hospitals for post exposure prophylaxis following dog bite injury in south Bhutan

Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Libya and Saudi Arabia during 2013 due to an exotic O/ME-SA/Ind-2001 lineage virus

Foot-and-mouth disease viruses are often restricted to specific geographical regions and spread to new areas may lead to significant epidemics. Phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the VP1 genome region of recent outbreak viruses from Libya and Saudi Arabia has revealed a lineage, O-Ind-2001, normally found in the Indian subcontinent. This paper describes the characterization of field viruses collected from these cases and provides information about a new real-time RT-PCR assay that can be used to detect viruses from this lineage and discriminate them from other endemic FMD viruses that are co-circulating in North Africa and western Eurasia.N.J. Knowles, K. Bachanek-Bankowska, J. Wadsworth, V. Mioulet, B. Valdazo-González, I.M. Eldaghayes, A.S. Dayhum, A.M. Kammon, M.A. Sharif, S. Waight, A.M. Shamia, S. Tenzin, U. Wernery, S. Grazioli, E. Brocchi, S. Subramaniam, B. Pattnaik, and D.P. Kin

Vaccinate-assess-move method of mass canine rabies vaccination utilising mobile technology data collection in Ranchi, India

BACKGROUND: Over 20 000 people die from rabies each year in India. At least 95 % of people contract rabies from an infected dog. Annual vaccination of over 70 % of the dog population has eliminated both canine and human rabies in many countries. Despite having the highest burden of rabies in the world, there have been very few studies which have reported the successful, large scale vaccination of dogs in India. Furthermore, many Indian canine rabies vaccination programmes have not achieved high vaccine coverage. METHODS: In this study, we utilised a catch-vaccinate-release approach in a canine rabies vaccination programme in 18 wards in Ranchi, India. Following vaccination, surveys of the number of marked, vaccinated and unmarked, unvaccinated dogs were undertaken. A bespoke smartphone ‘Mission Rabies’ application was developed to facilitate data entry and team management. This enabled GPS capture of the location of all vaccinated dogs and dogs sighted on post vaccination surveys. In areas where coverage was below 70 %, catching teams were re-deployed to vaccinate more dogs followed by repeat survey. RESULTS: During the initial vaccination cycle, 6593 dogs were vaccinated. Vaccination coverage was over 70 % in 14 of the 18 wards. A second cycle of vaccination was performed in the 4 wards where initial vaccination coverage was below 70 %. Following this second round of vaccination, coverage was reassessed and found to be over 70 % in two wards and only just below 70 % in the final two wards (66.7 % and 68.2 %, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that mobile technology enabled efficient team management and rapid data entry and analysis. The vaccination approach outlined in this study has the potential to facilitate the rapid vaccination of large numbers of dogs at a high coverage in free roaming dog populations in India. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-015-1320-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Wastewater management in urban Bhutan: Assessing the current practices and challenges

© 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers This study reviews the current wastewater management practices and their challenges in urban Bhutan. The study data was collected from the local authorities of 35 classified towns, and the field survey was conducted for the two representative towns of Thimphu City and Khuruthang town. The study observed that only eight of the 35 classified towns (22.8%) have public sewerage systems, with an average coverage of 19.7% of Bhutan's total urban population, or 7.4% of Bhutan's entire population. The imported modular wastewater treatment technology was significantly more expensive than alternative options; however, approximately six towns have already adopted this technology, due to a lack of space for a much cheaper waste stabilisation ponds. Currently, over 80% of Bhutan's urban population depends on the on-site sanitation system for their domestic wastewater disposal; however, over 40% of these properties lacked a soak-pit system for the safe disposal of septic tank effluent. Therefore, this study indicates that urban settlements in Bhutan are potentially subjected to overflow of significant amount of hazardous septic tank effluents directly into the environment posing significant risk to public and the environment. A critical urban plot space analysis indicates that the current system of on-site sanitation is inadequate and unsuitable for the current urban settings. Since it is impractical for the government to provide public sewerage system to all the towns, a low-cost public sewerage system, or an alternative and improved on-site treatment system, needs to be explored and promoted to achieve long-term environmental objectives

College Students’ Reflections on Their Experience Facilitating a Photovoice Research Project with BIPOC Older Adults and Frontline Healthcare Workers

The photovoice literature has focused mainly on research collaborations between researchers in academia and community partners. There is limited evidence of undergraduate students facilitating photovoice research projects with underserved Black, Indigenous, and persons of color (BIPOC). Students’ participation in photovoice research increases their understanding of local issues and can empower them to engage with local communities to create change. This qualitative study explored students’ experiences facilitating photovoice research with BIPOC older adults and frontline healthcare workers. In this study, we trained college students in photovoice methodological skills by introducing photovoice as a participatory qualitative methodology, explained ethics issues and the informed consent process, and clarified the steps and requirements for the photovoice project. Students were paired with BIPOC older adults and frontline healthcare workers. They facilitated the photovoice research project in four stages. Throughout the study, students critically reflected and wrote about the various aspects of their experience facilitating the photovoice research activities based on weekly structured reflection questions. In their weekly journal, student facilitators commented on how both older and younger BIPOC participants were friendly and kind, flexible with the research activity scheduling, inspiring with their stories, and selfless. Students’ reflections indicated that their participants experienced greater emotional and psychological burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the long-standing epidemic of systemic racism. Student facilitators overwhelmingly recognized participants’ resilience and perseverance despite these life challenges. Our findings highlight the importance of photovoice in developing and strengthening college students’ qualitative research skills and stimulating critical thinking and creativity, a sense of critical consciousness about social issues and society, and a sense of empowerment. Our results will be relevant to hospital/long-term care managers, policymakers, and researchers

Partial altitudinal migration of a Himalayan forest pheasant

BACKGROUND: Altitudinal migration systems are poorly understood. Recent advances in animal telemetry which enables tracking of migrants across their annual cycles will help illustrate unknown migration patterns and test existing hypotheses. Using telemetry, we show the existence of a complex partial altitudinal migration system in the Himalayas and discuss our findings to help better understand partial and altitudinal migration. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used GPS/accelerometer tags to monitor the migration of Satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra) in the Bhutan Himalayas. We tagged 38 birds from 2009 - 2011 and found that tragopans are partially migratory. Fall migration lasted from the 3(rd) week of September till the 3(rd) week of November with migrants traveling distances ranging from 1.25 km to 13.5 km over 1 to 32 days. Snowfall did not influence the onset of migration. Return migration started by the 1(st) week of March and lasted until the 1(st) week of April. Individuals returned within 4 to 10 days and displayed site fidelity. One bird switched from being a migrant to a non-migrant. Tragopans displayed three main migration patterns: 1) crossing multiple mountains; 2) descending/ascending longitudinally; 3) moving higher up in winter and lower down in summer. More females migrated than males; but, within males, body size was not a factor for predicting migrants. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our observations of migrants traversing over multiple mountain ridges and even of others climbing to higher elevations is novel. We support the need for existing hypotheses to consider how best to explain inter- as well as intra-sexual differences. Most importantly, having shown that the patterns of an altitudinal migration system are complex and not a simple up and down slope movement, we hope our findings will influence the way altitudinal migrations are perceived and thereby contribute to a better understanding of how species may respond to climate change

Exploring shredded waste PET bottles as a biofilter media for improved on-site sanitation

This study explores an improved alternative on-site treatment for unsewered urban Bhutan. The system combines up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket for blackwater treatment and anaerobic biofilter for a mixture of up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket effluent and greywater. Shredded waste plastic bottles are used as novel biofilter media that provides a large surface area for attached growth while addressing waste plastic problems. A bench-scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (operated at hydraulic retention time or HRT of 1–10 days) and anaerobic biofilter (HRT of 0.25–3 days) study were conducted for 188 days. At 2-d HRT, up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket removed 70–80 % of chemical oxygen demand (COD) while anaerobic biofilter achieved 90–98 % COD removal at eight-hour HRT. Combined up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket and anaerobic biofilter achieved final effluent with COD less than 50 mg/L and turbidity of less than 3 NTU that meets the discharge standard of Bhutan. The study shows that shredded waste plastic bottles can be an effective biofilter support medium for low-cost on-site treatment while helping address waste plastic problems

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel isoxazolines linked via piperazine to 2- benzoisothiazoles as potent apoptotic agents

Synthesis of 3-(4-((3-Phenyl-4,5-dihydroisoxazol-5-yl)methyl)piperazin-1-yl) benzoisothiazole derivatives (5a-i), which constitute a new class of isoxazolines, has been accomplished in regio-selective manner. These derivatives have been prepared by employing the reaction between substituted aldoximes (4a-i) and 3-(4-Allylpiperazin-1-yl) benzoisothiazole in presence of chloramine-T which afforded in good yields. These compounds were screened for cytotoxic activity on tumor cells. Four among the nine synthesized compounds were found to exhibit potent cytotoxic and antineoplastic activities in comparison to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) protein in mammalian cancer cells. The rest of the derivatives showed moderate activity