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Hume E Field

Publications and source records attributed to Hume E Field.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Nipah virus: impact, origins, and causes of emergence.

Nipah virus is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes severe febrile encephalitis resulting in death in 40% to 75% of human cases. Nipah virus is considered a biosafety level-4 pathogen and is listed as a select agent with high risk for public health and security due to its high mortality rate in people and the lack of effective vaccines or therapies. The natural reservoir for Nipah virus and related members of the genus Henipavirus are fruit bats of the genus Pteropus. Nipah virus emerged in Malaysia in 1998 as a porcine neurologic and respiratory disease that spread to humans who had contact with live, infected pigs. Research reviewed in this paper suggests that anthropogenic factors, including agricultural expansion and intensification, were the underlying causes of its emergence. Nipah virus has caused five subsequent outbreaks between 2001 and 2005 in Bangladesh. Here, it appears to have spilled over directly from bats to humans, and person-to-person transmission is evident suggesting a heightened public health risk.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Bats: important reservoir hosts of emerging viruses.

Bats (order Chiroptera, suborders Megachiroptera ["flying foxes"] and Microchiroptera) are abundant, diverse, and geographically widespread. These mammals provide us with resources, but their importance is minimized and many of their populations and species are at risk, even threatened or endangered. Some of their characteristics (food choices, colonial or solitary nature, population structure, ability to fly, seasonal migration and daily movement patterns, torpor and hibernation, life span, roosting behaviors, ability to echolocate, virus susceptibility) make them exquisitely suitable hosts of viruses and other disease agents. Bats of certain species are well recognized as being capable of transmitting rabies virus, but recent observations of outbreaks and epidemics of newly recognized human and livestock diseases caused by viruses transmitted by various megachiropteran and microchiropteran bats have drawn attention anew to these remarkable mammals. This paper summarizes information regarding chiropteran characteristics and information regarding 66 viruses that have been isolated from bats. From these summaries, it is clear that we do not know enough about bat biology; we are doing too little in terms of bat conservation; and there remain a multitude of questions regarding the role of bats in disease emergence.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Epidemiologic clues to SARS origin in China.

An epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) began in Foshan municipality, Guangdong Province, China, in November 2002. We studied SARS case reports through April 30, 2003, including data from case investigations and a case series analysis of index cases. A total of 1,454 clinically confirmed cases (and 55 deaths) occurred; the epidemic peak was in the first week of February 2003. Healthcare workers accounted for 24% of cases. Clinical signs and symptoms differed between children (<18 years) and older persons (> or =65 years). Several observations support the hypothesis of a wild animal origin for SARS. Cases apparently occurred independently in at least five different municipalities; early case-patients were more likely than later patients to report living near a produce market (odds ratio undefined; lower 95% confidence interval 2.39) but not near a farm; and 9 (39%) of 23 early patients, including 6 who lived or worked in Foshan, were food handlers with probable animal contact.

Adolescent↗