Linking Climate to Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (L. major) in Pre-Saharan North Africa – ScienceOpen
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      Linking Climate to Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis ( L. major) in Pre-Saharan North Africa

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          Abstract

          Shifts in surface climate may have changed the dynamic of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in the pre-Saharan zones of North Africa. Caused by Leishmania major, this form multiplies in the body of rodents serving as reservoirs of the disease. The parasite is then transmitted to human hosts by the bite of a Phlebotomine sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) that was previously fed by biting an infected reservoir. We examine the seasonal and interannual dynamics of the incidence of this ZCL as a function of surface climate indicators in two regions covering a large area of the semi-arid Pre-Saharan North Africa. Results suggest that in this area, changes in climate may have initiated a trophic cascade that resulted in an increase in ZCL incidence. We find the correlation between the rainy season precipitation and the same year Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to be strong for both regions while the number of cases of ZCL incidence lags the precipitation and NDVI by 2 years. The zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis seasonal dynamic appears to be controlled by minimum temperatures and presents a 2-month lag between the reported infection date and the presumed date when the infection actually occurred. The decadal increase in the number of ZCL occurrence in the region suggests that changes in climate increased minimum temperatures sufficiently and created conditions suitable for endemicity that did not previously exist. We also find that temperatures above a critical range suppress ZCL incidence by limiting the vector’s reproductive activity.

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          Global Change and Human Vulnerability to Vector-Borne Diseases

          Global change includes climate change and climate variability, land use, water storage and irrigation, human population growth and urbanization, trade and travel, and chemical pollution. Impacts on vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue fever, infections by other arboviruses, schistosomiasis, trypanosomiasis, onchocerciasis, and leishmaniasis are reviewed. While climate change is global in nature and poses unknown future risks to humans and natural ecosystems, other local changes are occurring more rapidly on a global scale and are having significant effects on vector-borne diseases. History is invaluable as a pointer to future risks, but direct extrapolation is no longer possible because the climate is changing. Researchers are therefore embracing computer simulation models and global change scenarios to explore the risks. Credible ranking of the extent to which different vector-borne diseases will be affected awaits a rigorous analysis. Adaptation to the changes is threatened by the ongoing loss of drugs and pesticides due to the selection of resistant strains of pathogens and vectors. The vulnerability of communities to the changes in impacts depends on their adaptive capacity, which requires both appropriate technology and responsive public health systems. The availability of resources in turn depends on social stability, economic wealth, and priority allocation of resources to public health.
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            Ethnopharmacological survey of plants used in the traditional treatment of hypertension and diabetes in south-eastern Morocco (Errachidia province).

            This survey was undertaken in the Errachidia province in south-eastern Morocco in order to inventory the main medicinal plants used in folk medicine to treat arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Four hundred individuals who knew about and/or had used the medicinal plants for the indicated diseases, including some herbal healers, were interviewed throughout different regions of the province. The inventory of medicinal plants is summarized in a synoptic table, which contains the scientific, vernacular and common name of the plant, its ecological distribution, the part of the plant and the preparation used and the therapeutic indication. Extensive investigations have brought to light 64 medicinal plants belonging to 33 families; of these, 45 are used for diabetes, 36 for hypertension, and 18 for both diseases. Of these plants, 34% grow in the wild, 44% are cultivated, and 22% are not indigenous to the area and are brought from other parts of Morocco or from outside the country. The survey shows that 78% of the patients regularly use these medicinal plants. In this region, the most frequently used plants to treat diabetes include Ajuga iva, Allium cepa, Artemisia herba-alba, Carum carvi, Lepidium sativum, Nigella sativa, Olea europaea, Peganum harmala, Phoenix dactylifera, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Zygophyllum gaetulum, and those to treat hypertension include Ajuga iva, Allium cepa, Allium sativum, Artemisia herba-alba Asso, Carum carvi, Nigella sativa, Olea europea, Rosmarinus officinalis, Origanum majorana, Peganum harmala, and Phoenix dactylifera. The local people recognize the toxic plants and are very careful in using such plants, which are Citrullus colocynthis, Datura stramonium, Nerium oleander, Nigella sativa, Peganum harmala and Zygophyllum gaetulum. Our survey shows that traditional medicine in the south-eastern Moroccan population has not only survived but has thrived in the transcultural environment and intermixture of many ethnic traditions and beliefs.
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              The Ecology and Evolutionary History of an Emergent Disease: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Int J Environ Res Public Health
                ijerph
                International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                MDPI
                1661-7827
                1660-4601
                31 July 2013
                August 2013
                : 10
                : 8
                : 3172-3191
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, MD 20771, USA; E-Mails: ping.zhang@ 123456nasa.gov (P.Z.); kurtis.thome@ 123456nasa.gov (K.J.T.)
                [2 ]Laboratory of Ecology & Environment, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco; E-Mails: kahimkholoud@ 123456gmail.com (K.K.); aboumezzough@ 123456gmail.com (A.B.)
                [3 ]Faculty of Medicine, Sidi Bel Abbes 22000, Algeria; E-Mail: leilahouti@ 123456yahoo.fr
                [4 ]Florida International University, Florida, FL 33199, USA; E-Mail: tblakey@ 123456fiu.edu
                [5 ]Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 USA; E-Mail: krisebi@ 123456essllc.org
                [6 ]Earth Resources Technology Inc., Laurel, MD 20707, USA
                [7 ]Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland, MD 20740, USA; E-Mail: marc.imhoff@ 123456pnnl.gov
                [8 ]Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, MD 20814, USA; E-Mail: cdudek@ 123456smith.edu
                [9 ]Hydrometeorological Institute of Training and Research, Oran 31025, Algeria; E-Mail: salah_sahabi@ 123456yahoo.com
                [10 ]Laboratory of Hydrobiology, Ecotoxicology and Sanitation, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech 40000, Morocco; E-Mail: messouli@ 123456gmail.com
                [11 ]Establishment of Local Public Health, Saida 20000, Algeria; E-Mail: makhloufbaghdad@ 123456yahoo.fr
                [12 ]Center of Epidemiology and disease Control, Ministry of Health, Rabat 10010, Morocco; E-Mail: laamrani55@ 123456gmail.com
                Author notes
                [* ] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: Lahouari.Bounoua-1@ 123456nasa.gov ; Tel.: +1-301-614-6631; Fax: +1-301-614-6695.
                Article
                ijerph-10-03172
                10.3390/ijerph10083172
                3774431
                23912199
                599f5e4d-6cee-4b64-9364-a43b00409ead
                © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                : 03 May 2013
                : 12 July 2013
                : 13 July 2013
                Categories
                Article

                Public health
                cutaneous leishmaniasis,surface climate indicators,incidence,climate,ndvi,north africa
                Public health
                cutaneous leishmaniasis, surface climate indicators, incidence, climate, ndvi, north africa

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