Social epidemiology as medical geography: Back to the future

There is something very traditional about Nancy Krieger’s decidedly modern work. She advances a social epidemiology that is multidisciplinary, advancing a “quantitative population science” that is also spatial in its approach and method of analysis. Many geographers see their work as affirming the potential of medical cartography and geography as disciplines critical to public health studies of disease incidence. This article argues that the history of epidemiology and public health are historically spatial and geographic, a link lost in the research of many twentieth century health researchers. A review of the history of medical geography, and of public health, insists upon the spatiality of disease studies as a critical groundwork not simply for contemporary disease studies but for the history of disease studies as they have slowly developed over for more than 200 years.     

Studies on rickettsia-like organism (RLO) disease of tropical marine pearl oyster-Epidemiological investigation of RLO disease in juvenile populations of maricultured Pinctada maxima

The death which occurred in juvenile population was a severe problem in the course ofPinctada maxima artificial culture. With the methods of field investigation, histological study and statistic analyses, the epidemiological study was carried out on the disease and death in juvenile populations of Pinctada maxima in the Xinying Pearl Oyster Mariculture Farm of Lingao County (for the A, B and C batches of cultured juveniles hanged in the sea) and the Xincun Pearl Oyster Mariculture Farm of Lingshui County (for the D batch of cultured juvenile hanged in the pond), Hainan Province from November 1993 to April 1995.The results show that the deaths which occurred in juvenile populations of Pinctada maxima presented an outbreak pattern. The peak of mortality rates, in general, occurred in 4-to 6-month old pearl oyster juveniles, and the mortality rates gradully declined with the extention of pearl oyster age after cul-turing 8 months. The correlation between the mortality rates of juvenile populations and mean     

Studies on rickettsia-like organism (RLO) disease of tropical marine pearl oyster——Epidemiological investigation of RLO disease in larvae populations of maricultured Pinctada maxima

The onset and sPread of diseases in dricultured Anrnals are resulted frOm the mutule ef-fect of pathogen, hOSt and environrnnt. Epidemology takes the diseased AnInal poPulationsas the study object, rnakes observation and exPeriment on the field as the primp method ofstUdy and stuha the mutule effec Of PathOgen, hOS and environrnen by inVeSigating the na-ttire distribution of diseases and ePidendc mechedsm. To date, succeSSful exarnple of epidend-obo study on lerne shellfish deseases is…     

Lamprey (Geotria australis; Agnatha) reddening syndrome in Southland rivers,New Zealand 2011–2013: laboratory findings and epidemiology,including the incidental detection of an atypical Aeromonas salmonicida

From 2011, lamprey (Geotria australis) populations in Southland, New Zealand have been affected by reddening along the length of the body and increased mortalities, termed lamprey reddening syndrome (LRS). Molecular testing, bacteriology, histopathology and epidemiology were used to determine if an infectious agent was present and to increase the understanding of this syndrome. An atypical Aeromonas salmonicida was detected from affected lamprey in 2011. This organism has not previously been reported from New Zealand. Investigative molecular testing indicated the organism was an uncharacterised, unculturable, atypical A. salmonicida and a likely incidental finding. Histopathology did not indicate an infectious process was involved, but suggested the reddening may be due to blunt trauma. Epidemiological investigation found the Mokoreta River had a significantly higher prevalence of LRS than others in the Southland region, but there was no clear reason why. To date, no infectious aetiology for this syndrome has been identified.     

热带海洋珍珠贝类立克次体(RLO)病研究 Ⅶ 大珠母贝育苗期幼虫群体RLO病流行病学研究

对流行病学分析显示大珠母贝幼虫群体的死亡是以暴发性方式发生,从胚胎发育前期至变态期,幼虫存在两个死亡高峰,分别位于壳顶期之前或壳顶期和壳顶后期.大珠母贝幼虫群体的死亡率与RLO感染之间存在显著的相关性,在RLO感染的高峰之后均相应伴随幼虫群体死亡率的高峰,随着RLO感染率和感染强度的降低,幼虫群体死亡率也明显降低.在TEM下未发现未受精卵母细胞、受精卵和胚胎早期幼虫感染RLO,最先出现RLO包涵体阳性感染的时期为24h尚未摄食的D形期幼虫,故认为RLO可能不是通过垂直传播,而是通过外界接触感染的方式感染宿主,贝体感染至发病死亡存在潜伏期.     

福建海水养殖鱼类本尼登虫病研究

对福建海域网箱养殖鱼类本尼登虫病(Benedeniasis)进行了研究,调查发现6种本尼登虫病原,完成新本尼登虫季节感染动态和生活史的研究。研究结果表明,鱼群本尼登虫自然感染率平均52．14％,最高感染率达100％。考察结果说明福建海域网箱养殖鱼类本尼登虫的感染和流行与渔区海水温度和降雨量关系最大,福建海域在一年中的6月至10月份是网箱养殖鱼类本尼登虫病感染和流行的高峰季节。     

拟穴青蟹(Scylla paramamosain)血卵涡鞭虫病的流行病学分析

为解析拟穴青蟹(Scylla paramamosain)血卵涡鞭虫病的流行病学特征,于2012年4—11月采用跟踪监测和实地调查的方法,结合病原分离鉴定及病蟹的病理学观察,统计分析了浙江省温州地区养殖拟穴青蟹血卵涡鞭虫病的流行情况。结果表明,患病拟穴青蟹的肝胰腺、肌肉、鳃等组织病理显示有大量血卵涡鞭虫侵染,并能用PCR方法快速检出。温州地区养殖拟穴青蟹血卵涡鞭虫病在每年5—11月均有发生,7—9月为集中发病时间,死亡高峰出现于8—9月之间,年份间(2010—2012)与发病率无相关性,而不同月份对病害的发生有极显著影响(P0.01)。不同发育阶段以脱壳期的发病率相对较高,发病蟹的规格主要以50g以下的幼蟹和250g以上的成蟹为主。拟穴青蟹血卵涡鞭虫病的发生与水温(r=0.756)和盐度(r=0.631)变化关系较密切,夏、秋季节受梅雨、台风影响而引起水温和盐度的剧烈变化可能是暴发血卵涡鞭虫病的诱发因素。     

Mercury in Human Hair and Fish: is there a Hong Kong Male Subfertility Connection?

Hair is a useful indicator of a person’s exposure to mercury. For this reason, hair samples from 94 fertile and 117 subfertile Hong Kong residents were compared over four separate age groups. A typical 30 year old Hong Kong male had a hair mercury concentration of approximately 3.3 mg/kg mercury while a 60 year old Hong Kong subfertile male had a hair mercury concentration of about 7.5 mg/kg. Most of this mercury comes from seafood consumption. Individuals consuming four or more meals of fish per week had a hair mercury of 4.07 mg/kg dry weight of hair while those consuming fish less frequently had significantly lower levels (2.56 mg/kg). Hong Kong residents that consumed no fish had only 1.21 mg/kg hair mercury. The relative risks of males with moderate and high levels of mercury in their hair were significant (p=0.062). Age corrected estimates of risk indicated that compared with men with low levels of mercury in their hair, men with higher levels were twice as likely to be subfertile (relative risk, 1.95) and there was a dose–response trend that was highly significant (p < 0.0005). In light of these risks we concluded that the maximum permitted mercury level in food sold in Hong Kong should be lowered from 0.5 mg/kg wet weight to a level to be determined by risk analysis. In Japan, where fish mercury levels and fish consumption rates are lower than those in Hong Kong, the maximum amount of mercury permitted in food for human consumption is 0.3 mg/kg wet weight.     

Spatial autocorrelation of West Nile virus vector mosquito abundance in a seasonally wet suburban environment

The objective of this study is to quantify and model spatial dependence in mosquito vector populations and develop predictions for unsampled locations using geostatistics. Mosquito control program trap sites are often located too far apart to detect spatial dependence but the results show that integration of spatial data over time for Cx. pipiens-restuans and according to meteorological conditions for Ae. vexans enables spatial analysis of sparse sample data. This study shows that mosquito abundance is spatially correlated and that spatial dependence differs between Cx. pipiens-restuans and Ae. vexans mosquitoes.