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Meaza H, Ghebreyohannes T, Nyssen J, Tesfamariam Z, Demissie B, Poesen J, Gebrehiwot M, Weldemichel TG, Deckers S, Gidey DG, Vanmaercke M. Managing the environmental impacts of war: What can be learned from conflict-vulnerable communities? THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 927:171974. [PMID: 38547990 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Revised: 03/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
Wars have serious negative effects on the total environment. This study reviews 193 case studies worldwide in order to better understand these impacts and their potential management before, during and after war. The synthesis of the evidence shows that military actions damage landscape resources. Aerial bombings have great negative impacts by damaging environmental conservation efforts, destroying trees, disturbing soilscapes and undermining soil health. In addition, war exterminates wildlife and their ecological niches and contributes to atmospheric and water pollution. Overall, military leaders and personnel have shown little concern about these impacts. Limited postwar restoration activities are also undertaken to reduce war-driven environmental impacts. The study highlights some good practices on how to manage the total environment during the warfare. Therefore, communities must share best lessons to remain in a sustainable peace, restore the war-damaged environment, and enhance sustainable economic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hailemariam Meaza
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Mekelle University, Ethiopia; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium.
| | | | - Jan Nyssen
- Department of Geography, Ghent University, Belgium
| | - Zbelo Tesfamariam
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
| | - Biadiglign Demissie
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Mekelle University, Ethiopia; Laboratoire d'Analyses Géospatiales, ULB, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jean Poesen
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium; Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, UMCS, Poland
| | - Misgina Gebrehiwot
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
| | | | - Seppe Deckers
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
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Pallett SJC, Boyd SE, O'Shea MK, Martin J, Jenkins DR, Hutley EJ. The contribution of human conflict to the development of antimicrobial resistance. COMMUNICATIONS MEDICINE 2023; 3:153. [PMID: 37880348 PMCID: PMC10600243 DOI: 10.1038/s43856-023-00386-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Pallet et al. discuss the impact of human conflict on development of antimicrobial resistance. They overview approaches to limit the spread of antimicrobial resistance, using the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as an example of the challenges and opportunities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott J C Pallett
- Centre of Defence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
| | - Sara E Boyd
- Antimicrobial Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutics, Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
| | - Matthew K O'Shea
- Centre of Defence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
| | - Jessica Martin
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, LS1 3EX, UK
| | - David R Jenkins
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Infirmary Square, Leicester, LE1 5WW, UK
| | - Emma J Hutley
- Centre of Defence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
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Biselli R, Nisini R, Lista F, Autore A, Lastilla M, De Lorenzo G, Peragallo MS, Stroffolini T, D’Amelio R. A Historical Review of Military Medical Strategies for Fighting Infectious Diseases: From Battlefields to Global Health. Biomedicines 2022; 10:2050. [PMID: 36009598 PMCID: PMC9405556 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10082050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The environmental conditions generated by war and characterized by poverty, undernutrition, stress, difficult access to safe water and food as well as lack of environmental and personal hygiene favor the spread of many infectious diseases. Epidemic typhus, plague, malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis, tetanus, and smallpox have nearly constantly accompanied wars, frequently deeply conditioning the outcome of battles/wars more than weapons and military strategy. At the end of the nineteenth century, with the birth of bacteriology, military medical researchers in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France were active in discovering the etiological agents of some diseases and in developing preventive vaccines. Emil von Behring, Ronald Ross and Charles Laveran, who were or served as military physicians, won the first, the second, and the seventh Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering passive anti-diphtheria/tetanus immunotherapy and for identifying mosquito Anopheline as a malaria vector and plasmodium as its etiological agent, respectively. Meanwhile, Major Walter Reed in the United States of America discovered the mosquito vector of yellow fever, thus paving the way for its prevention by vector control. In this work, the military relevance of some vaccine-preventable and non-vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, as well as of biological weapons, and the military contributions to their control will be described. Currently, the civil-military medical collaboration is getting closer and becoming interdependent, from research and development for the prevention of infectious diseases to disasters and emergencies management, as recently demonstrated in Ebola and Zika outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic, even with the high biocontainment aeromedical evacuation, in a sort of global health diplomacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Biselli
- Ispettorato Generale della Sanità Militare, Stato Maggiore della Difesa, Via S. Stefano Rotondo 4, 00184 Roma, Italy
| | - Roberto Nisini
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italy
| | - Florigio Lista
- Dipartimento Scientifico, Policlinico Militare, Comando Logistico dell’Esercito, Via S. Stefano Rotondo 4, 00184 Roma, Italy
| | - Alberto Autore
- Osservatorio Epidemiologico della Difesa, Ispettorato Generale della Sanità Militare, Stato Maggiore della Difesa, Via S. Stefano Rotondo 4, 00184 Roma, Italy
| | - Marco Lastilla
- Istituto di Medicina Aerospaziale, Comando Logistico dell’Aeronautica Militare, Viale Piero Gobetti 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
| | - Giuseppe De Lorenzo
- Comando Generale dell’Arma dei Carabinieri, Dipartimento per l’Organizzazione Sanitaria e Veterinaria, Viale Romania 45, 00197 Roma, Italy
| | - Mario Stefano Peragallo
- Centro Studi e Ricerche di Sanità e Veterinaria, Comando Logistico dell’Esercito, Via S. Stefano Rotondo 4, 00184 Roma, Italy
| | - Tommaso Stroffolini
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive e Tropicali, Policlinico Umberto I, 00161 Roma, Italy
| | - Raffaele D’Amelio
- Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Molecolare, Sapienza Università di Roma, Via di Grottarossa 1035-1039, 00189 Roma, Italy
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Basch CE, Basch CH. Epidemiology, Secondary School Curricula, and Preparing the Next Generation for Global Citizenship. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2022; 8:e36006. [PMID: 35254281 PMCID: PMC8903204 DOI: 10.2196/36006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Because COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases are likely to play an increasingly important role in shaping American and global society in years to come, there is a need to prepare young people to make informed decisions in this changing global context. One way to do so is teaching and learning about basic principles of epidemiology in secondary schools. Improved understanding about the agent of infection, mechanisms of transmission, factors that increase or decrease susceptibility, place variation and environmental factors that facilitate or hinder transmission, reservoirs of infection (where the agent lives and multiplies), and when the disease is more or less likely to occur comprise the main facts about an infectious disease relevant to prevention and control. Improved understanding of these basic concepts could help future generations make informed decisions in a changing global context with emerging infectious diseases and a plethora of widely disseminated misinformation and disinformation. This viewpoint considers why learning about epidemiology in secondary school would benefit population health using COVID-19 as an illustration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles E Basch
- Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Corey H Basch
- William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, United States
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Herff H, Wenzel V, Böttiger BW. [Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and penicillin as examples of rediscovery]. Anaesthesist 2021; 70:1051-1052. [PMID: 33938978 PMCID: PMC8090511 DOI: 10.1007/s00101-021-00970-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- H Herff
- Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Operative Intensivmedizin, Universität zu Köln, Kerpenerstr. 62, 50937, Köln, Deutschland.
| | - V Wenzel
- Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Intensivmedizin, Notfallmedizin und Schmerztherapie, Klinikum Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, Deutschland
| | - B W Böttiger
- Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Operative Intensivmedizin, Universität zu Köln, Kerpenerstr. 62, 50937, Köln, Deutschland
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