Effects of global change on snakebite envenoming incidence up to 2050: a modelling assessment.

Background: Human activities are driving climate, land cover, and population change (global change), and shifting the baseline geographical distribution of snakebite. The interacting effects of global change on snakes and communities at risk of snakebite are poorly understood, limiting capacity to anticipate and manage future changes in snakebite risk.

Methods: In this modelling study, we projected how global change will affect snakebite envenoming incidence in Sri Lanka, as a model system that has a high incidence of snakebite.

Climate change maladaptation for health: Agricultural practice against shifting seasonal rainfall affects snakebite risk for farmers in the tropics.

Snakebite affects more than 1.8 million people annually. Factors explaining snakebite variability include farmers' behaviors, snake ecology and climate.

A mechanistic model of snakebite as a zoonosis: Envenoming incidence is driven by snake ecology, socioeconomics and its impacts on snakes.

Snakebite is the only WHO-listed, not infectious neglected tropical disease (NTD), although its eco-epidemiology is similar to that of zoonotic infections: envenoming occurs after a vertebrate host contacts a human. Accordingly, snakebite risk represents the interaction between snake and human factors, but their quantification has been limited by data availability. Models of infectious disease transmission are instrumental for the mitigation of NTDs and zoonoses.

Glial Cells as Therapeutic Approaches in Brain Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

Ischemic stroke is the second cause of mortality and the first cause of long-term disability constituting a serious socioeconomic burden worldwide. Approved treatments include thrombectomy and rtPA intravenous administration, which, despite their efficacy in some cases, are not suitable for a great proportion of patients. Glial cell-related therapies are progressively overcoming inefficient neuron-centered approaches in the preclinical phase.

Integrating human behavior and snake ecology with agent-based models to predict snakebite in high risk landscapes.

Snakebite causes more than 1.8 million envenoming cases annually and is a major cause of death in the tropics especially for poor farmers. While both social and ecological factors influence the chance encounter between snakes and people, the spatio-temporal processes underlying snakebites remain poorly explored.

Age- and size-dependent resistance to chytridiomycosis in the invasive cane toad Rhinella marina.

In Australia, the cane toad Rhinella marina and chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) are examples of invasive species that have had dramatic impacts on native fauna. However, little is known about the interaction between Bd and cane toads. We aimed to explore the interaction of these 2 species in 3 parts.

Climate Change Could Increase the Geographic Extent of Hendra Virus Spillover Risk.

Disease risk mapping is important for predicting and mitigating impacts of bat-borne viruses, including Hendra virus (Paramyxoviridae:Henipavirus), that can spillover to domestic animals and thence to humans. We produced two models to estimate areas at potential risk of HeV spillover explained by the climatic suitability for its flying fox reservoir hosts, Pteropus alecto and P. conspicillatus.

Hendra Virus Spillover is a Bimodal System Driven by Climatic Factors.

Understanding environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns of disease can improve risk mitigation strategies. Hendra virus (HeV), discovered in Australia in 1994, spills over from bats (Pteropus sp.) to horses and thence to humans.

Characterizing environmental suitability of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Mexico based on regional and global niche models.

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae), is an invasive species and a vector of numerous human pathogens, including chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika viruses. This mosquito had been reported from 36 geographic locations in Mexico by 2005, increasing to 101 locations by 2010 and 501 locations (spanning 16 states) by 2016. Here we modeled the occupied niche for Ae.

Climatic suitability influences species specific abundance patterns of Australian flying foxes and risk of Hendra virus spillover.

Hendra virus is a paramyxovirus of Australian flying fox bats. It was first detected in August 1994, after the death of 20 horses and one human. Since then it has occurred regularly within a portion of the geographical distribution of all Australian flying fox (fruit bat) species.

Microclimates Might Limit Indirect Spillover of the Bat Borne Zoonotic Hendra Virus.

Infectious diseases are transmitted when susceptible hosts are exposed to pathogen particles that can replicate within them. Among factors that limit transmission, the environment is particularly important for indirectly transmitted parasites. To try and assess a pathogens' ability to be transmitted through the environment and mitigate risk, we need to quantify its decay where transmission occurs in space such as the microclimate harbouring the pathogen.

Hendra virus survival does not explain spillover patterns and implicates relatively direct transmission routes from flying foxes to horses.

Hendra virus (HeV) is lethal to humans and horses, and little is known about its epidemiology. Biosecurity restrictions impede advances, particularly on understanding pathways of transmission. Quantifying the environmental survival of HeV can be used for making decisions and to infer transmission pathways.

Ecological dynamics of emerging bat virus spillover.

Viruses that originate in bats may be the most notorious emerging zoonoses that spill over from wildlife into domestic animals and humans. Understanding how these infections filter through ecological systems to cause disease in humans is of profound importance to public health. Transmission of viruses from bats to humans requires a hierarchy of enabling conditions that connect the distribution of reservoir hosts, viral infection within these hosts, and exposure and susceptibility of recipient hosts.