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Biomedical subjects

P R Epstein

Publications and source records attributed to P R Epstein.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Algal blooms in the spread and persistence of cholera.

Cholera has been long associated with the seasonality of coastal algal blooms off Bangladesh. Using fluorescent antibody (FA) techniques, microbiologists have now identified a viable, non-cultivable form of Vibrio cholerae in a wide range of marine life, including cyanobacteria (Anabaena variabilis), diatoms (Skeletonema costatum), phaeophytes (Ascophyllum nodosum), in copepod molts, and in freshwater vascular aquatic plants (water hyacinths and duckweed). In unfavourable conditions V. cholerae assumes spore-like forms; with proper nutrients, pH and temperature, it reverts to a readily transmissible and infectious state. Nitrates and phosphates in sewage and fertilizers cause eutrophication, and scientists report an increase in intensity, duration and shifts in the biodiversity of algal blooms in many coastal, brackish and fresh waters worldwide. V. cholerae has been isolated from phyto- and zooplankton in marine and fresh waters near Lima, Peru. V. cholera 01, biotype El Tor, serotype Inaba, may have arrived in the Americas in the bilge of a Chinese freighter. There, in the abundant coastal sea life along the Latin American Pacific coast, nourished by the Humboldt current and eutrophication, it found a reservoir for surviving unfavourable conditions. It is hypothesized that the algae and Vibrio populations grew exponentially; consumed by fish, mollusks and crustacea, a heavy 'inoculum' of carriers infected with V. cholerae was generated and transported into multiple coastal communities.

Cholera↗
PubMed1992

Health and environment.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Conservation of Energy Resources↗
PubMed1991

Pathogenesis of respiratory infection in the disadvantaged.

People living in poverty suffer from an increased burden of illness. The increase in respiratory illnesses in poor populations spans a spectrum from immuno-preventive respiratory infections in refugee populations to tuberculosis among the inner-city homeless. Such populations suffer from greater exposures to disease-causing agents and from depressed host resistance to those microbes. This article discusses the latter cause. Studies are reviewed that show the associations between poverty and respiratory disease; between poverty and such factors as stress, poor nutrition, low birth weight, and co-infections; and those associations that help dissect the pathogenic pathways by which these factors impair host defenses against infection. In the end, such influences are aggregate, and the conditions of poverty and the growing inequality in resource distribution emerges worldwide as a major determinant of health.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗