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Monteiro A, Basart S, Kazadzis S, Votsis A, Gkikas A, Vandenbussche S, Tobias A, Gama C, García-Pando CP, Terradellas E, Notas G, Middleton N, Kushta J, Amiridis V, Lagouvardos K, Kosmopoulos P, Kotroni V, Kanakidou M, Mihalopoulos N, Kalivitis N, Dagsson-Waldhauserová P, El-Askary H, Sievers K, Giannaros T, Mona L, Hirtl M, Skomorowski P, Virtanen TH, Christoudias T, Di Mauro B, Trippetta S, Kutuzov S, Meinander O, Nickovic S. Multi-sectoral impact assessment of an extreme African dust episode in the Eastern Mediterranean in March 2018. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 843:156861. [PMID: 35750162 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In late March 2018, a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean experienced an extraordinary episode of African dust, one of the most intense in recent years, here referred to as the "Minoan Red" event. The episode mainly affected the Greek island of Crete, where the highest aerosol concentrations over the past 15 yeas were recorded, although impacts were also felt well beyond this core area. Our study fills a gap in dust research by assessing the multi-sectoral impacts of sand and dust storms and their socioeconomic implications. Specifically, we provide a multi-sectoral impact assessment of Crete during the occurrence of this exceptional African dust event. During the day of the occurrence of the maximum dust concentration in Crete, i.e. March 22nd, 2018, we identified impacts on meteorological conditions, agriculture, transport, energy, society (including closing of schools and cancellation of social events), and emergency response systems. As a result, the event led to a 3-fold increase in daily emergency responses compare to previous days associated with urban emergencies and wildfires, a 3.5-fold increase in hospital visits and admissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations and dyspnoea, a reduction of visibility causing aircraft traffic disruptions (eleven cancellations and seven delays), and a reduction of solar energy production. We estimate the cost of direct and indirect effects of the dust episode, considering the most affected socio-economic sectors (e.g. civil protection, aviation, health and solar energy production), to be between 3.4 and 3.8 million EUR for Crete. Since such desert dust transport episodes are natural, meteorology-driven and thus to a large extent unavoidable, we argue that the efficiency of actions to mitigate dust impacts depends on the accuracy of operational dust forecasting and the implementation of relevant early warning systems for social awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Monteiro
- CESAM & Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Sara Basart
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Stelios Kazadzis
- Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center, Switzerland
| | - Athanasios Votsis
- Dept. of Governance and Technology for Sustainability, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands; Climate Change and Society, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Antonis Gkikas
- IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Athens, Greece
| | | | - Aurelio Tobias
- Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain; School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Carla Gama
- CESAM & Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Carlos Pérez García-Pando
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain; ICREA, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - George Notas
- School of Medicine and University Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Nick Middleton
- St Anne's College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6HS, United Kingdom
| | - Jonilda Kushta
- Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus
| | | | - Kostas Lagouvardos
- Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA), Greece
| | - Panagiotis Kosmopoulos
- Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA), Greece
| | - Vasiliki Kotroni
- Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA), Greece
| | - Maria Kanakidou
- Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Chemistry Department, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Nikos Mihalopoulos
- Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA), Greece; Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Chemistry Department, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Nikos Kalivitis
- IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Athens, Greece; Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory, Chemistry Department, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
| | - Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserová
- Agricultural University of Iceland, Keldnaholt, 112 Reykjavik, Iceland; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague 165 21, Czech Republic
| | - Hesham El-Askary
- Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, 92866, USA; Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21522, Egypt
| | - Klaus Sievers
- ZAMG - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Wien, Austria
| | - T Giannaros
- Institute of Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA), Greece
| | - Lucia Mona
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale (CNR-IMAA), Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy
| | - Marcus Hirtl
- ZAMG - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Wien, Austria
| | - Paul Skomorowski
- ZAMG - Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Wien, Austria
| | - Timo H Virtanen
- Finnish Meteorological Institute, Climate Research, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Theodoros Christoudias
- Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus
| | - Biagio Di Mauro
- Institute of Polar Sciences, National Research Council of Italy, Milano, Italy
| | - Serena Trippetta
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Metodologie per l'Analisi Ambientale (CNR-IMAA), Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy
| | - Stanislav Kutuzov
- Dept. of Glaciology, Institute of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia
| | - Outi Meinander
- Finnish Meteorological Institute, Climate Research, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
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Mazamay S, Guégan JF, Diallo N, Bompangue D, Bokabo E, Muyembe JJ, Taty N, Vita TP, Broutin H. An overview of bacterial meningitis epidemics in Africa from 1928 to 2018 with a focus on epidemics "outside-the-belt". BMC Infect Dis 2021; 21:1027. [PMID: 34592937 PMCID: PMC8485505 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-021-06724-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Bacterial meningitis occurs worldwide but Africa remains the most affected continent, especially in the "Meningitis belt" that extends from Senegal to Ethiopia. Three main bacteria are responsible for causing bacterial meningitis, i.e., N. meningitidis (Nm), S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae type b. Among Nm, serogroup A used to be responsible for up to 80 to 85% of meningococcal meningitis cases in Africa. Since 2000, other Nm serogroups including W, X and C have also been responsible for causing epidemics. This overview aims to describe the main patterns of meningitis disease cases and pathogens from 1928 to 2018 in Africa with a special focus on disease conditions “out-of-the-belt” area that is still usually unexplored. Based on basic spatio-temporal methods, and a 90-years database of reported suspected meningitis cases and death from the World Health Organization, we used both geographic information system and spatio-temporal statistics to identify the major localizations of meningitis epidemics over this period in Africa. Results Bacterial meningitis extends today outside its historical limits of the meningitis belt. Since the introduction of MenAfrivac vaccine in 2010, there has been a dramatic decrease in NmA cases while other pathogen species and Nm variants including NmW, NmC and Streptococcus pneumoniae have become more prevalent reflecting a greater diversity of bacterial strains causing meningitis epidemics in Africa today. Conclusion Bacterial meningitis remains a major public health problem in Africa today. Formerly concentrated in the region of the meningitis belt with Sub-Saharan and Sudanian environmental conditions, the disease extends now outside these historical limits to reach more forested regions in the central parts of the continent. With global environmental changes and massive vaccination targeting a unique serogroup, an epidemiological transition of bacterial meningitis is ongoing, requiring both a better consideration of the etiological nature of the responsible agents and of their proximal and distal determinants. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-021-06724-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge Mazamay
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. .,MIVEGEC, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 911 avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
| | - Jean-François Guégan
- MIVEGEC, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 911 avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.,ASTRE, INRAE, Cirad, Université de Montpellier, Campus international de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Neby Diallo
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Didier Bompangue
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.,Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249 Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
| | - Eric Bokabo
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Jean-Jacques Muyembe
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Nadège Taty
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Tonton Paul Vita
- Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
| | - Hélène Broutin
- MIVEGEC, Université de Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, 911 avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.,Département de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Dakar, Sénégal.,Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Evolution de la Santé (CREES), Montpellier, France
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Karimi SM, Pouran H, Majbouri M, Moradi-Lakeh M, Hakimian H. Saharan sand and dust storms and neonatal mortality: Evidence from Burkina Faso. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 729:139053. [PMID: 32498181 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
West African populations are exposed to the longest and harshest dust storms on the planet, the Saharan sand and dust storms (SDS). Nonetheless, little is known about the effects of the severe storms on early-life health in West Africa. This study investigated the association of the risk of neonatal mortality, an indicator of the population's early-life health, with potential prenatal and neonatal exposure to the Saharan SDS. Data on 30,552 under-five children from Burkina Faso's 1993, 2003, and 2010 demographic and health surveys were matched to the particulate matters (PM) and terrestrial air temperature and precipitation forecasts. Exposure to dust events was measured by the number of days with average PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations above a series of threshold. Intensity-dependent patterns of associations between neonatal mortality and both prenatal and birth month exposure to dust events were identified. There was no association if average daily PM10 and PM2.5 levels were <60 and 30 μg/m3, respectively. However, strong associations, which increase almost linearly with the intensity of exposure, were identified when daily PM10 and PM2.5 levels ranged from 70 to 150 and from 40 to 70 μg/m3, respectively. At the higher PM levels, the association for the gestation period decreased, but that for the birth month remained mostly unresponsive to changes in the PM levels. Larger associations were identified when siblings were compared.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seyed M Karimi
- University of Louisville, Department of Health Management and System Sciences, United States of America.
| | - Hamid Pouran
- University of Wolverhampton, Department of Science and Engineering, United Kingdom.
| | - Mahdi Majbouri
- Babson College, Department of Economics, United States of America.
| | - Maziar Moradi-Lakeh
- Iran University of Medical Sciences, Department of Community Medicine, Iran.
| | - Hassan Hakimian
- College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Middle Eastern Studies Department, Qatar.
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Agier L, Martiny N, Thiongane O, Mueller JE, Paireau J, Watkins ER, Irving TJ, Koutangni T, Broutin H. Towards understanding the epidemiology of Neisseria meningitidis in the African meningitis belt: a multi-disciplinary overview. Int J Infect Dis 2016; 54:103-112. [PMID: 27826113 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2016.10.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2016] [Revised: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 10/29/2016] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Neisseria meningitidis is the major cause of seasonal meningitis epidemics in the African meningitis belt. In the changing context of a reduction in incidence of serogroup A and an increase in incidence of serogroups W and C and of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a better understanding of the determinants driving the disease transmission dynamics remains crucial to improving bacterial meningitis control. METHODS The literature was searched to provide a multi-disciplinary overview of the determinants of meningitis transmission dynamics in the African meningitis belt. RESULTS Seasonal hyperendemicity is likely predominantly caused by increased invasion rates, sporadic localized epidemics by increased transmission rates, and larger pluri-annual epidemic waves by changing population immunity. Carriage likely involves competition for colonization and cross-immunity. The duration of immunity likely depends on the acquisition type. Major risk factors include dust and low humidity, and presumably human contact rates and co-infections; social studies highlighted environmental and dietary factors, with supernatural explanations. CONCLUSIONS Efforts should focus on implementing multi-country, longitudinal seroprevalence and epidemiological studies, validating immune markers of protection, and improving surveillance, including more systematic molecular characterizations of the bacteria. Integrating climate and social factors into disease control strategies represents a high priority for optimizing the public health response and anticipating the geographic evolution of the African meningitis belt.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydiane Agier
- Combining Health Information, Computation and Statistics, Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
| | - Nadège Martiny
- Centre de Recherches de Climatologie (CRC), UMR 6282 CNRS Biogeosciences, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
| | - Oumy Thiongane
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR INTERTRYP IRD-CIRAD, Antenne IRD Bobo Dioulasso, Bobo, Burkina Faso
| | - Judith E Mueller
- EHESP French School of Public Health, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Rennes, France; Unité de l'Epidémiologie des Maladies Emergentes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Juliette Paireau
- Unité de l'Epidémiologie des Maladies Emergentes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
| | | | - Tom J Irving
- School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Thibaut Koutangni
- EHESP French School of Public Health, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Rennes, France; Unité de l'Epidémiologie des Maladies Emergentes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Hélène Broutin
- MIVEGEC, UMR 590CNRS/224IRD/UM, Montpellier, France; Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Fann, Dakar, Senegal
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