Zoonotic Infections Among Employees from Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain National Parks, 2008–2009

Adjemian, Jennifer; Weber, Ingrid; McQuiston, Jennifer H.; Griffith, Kevin S.; Mead, Paul S.; Nicholson, William L.; A, Roche; Schriefer, Martin E.; Fischer, Marc; Kosoy, Olga; Laven, Janeen; Stoddard, Robyn A.; Hoffmaster, Alex R.; Smith, Theresa L.; Bui, Duy M.; Wilkins, Patricia P.; Jones, Jeffery L.; Gupton, Paige N.; Quinn, Conrad P.; Messonnier, Nancy E.; Higgins, Charles L.; Wong, David

doi:10.1089/vbz.2011.0917

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Finally, a recently published study on zoonotic infections among employees at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park provided serologic evidence of previous exposure to various tick-or mosquito-borne pathogens, including A. phagocytophilum, Colorado tick fever virus, E. chaffeensis, La Crosse virus and West Nile virus, and of infection during a 1-yr prospective study with mosquito-borne La Crosse virus in an employee at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Adjemian et al 2012). However, it is not clear to what extent these exposures occurred within the National Parks versus elsewhere.…”

Section: Existing Information For Vectors and Vector-bornementioning

confidence: 99%

What is the Risk for Exposure to Vector-Borne Pathogens in United States National Parks?

Eisen¹,

Wong²,

Shelus³

et al. 2013

jnl. med. entom.

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United States national parks attract Ͼ275 million visitors annually and collectively present risk of exposure for staff and visitors to a wide range of arthropod vector species (most notably ßeas, mosquitoes, and ticks) and their associated bacterial, protozoan, or viral pathogens. We assessed the current state of knowledge for risk of exposure to vector-borne pathogens in national parks through a review of relevant literature, including internal National Park Service documents and organismal databases. We conclude that, because of lack of systematic surveillance for vector-borne pathogens in national parks, the risk of pathogen exposure for staff and visitors is unclear. Existing data for vectors within national parks were not based on systematic collections and rarely include evaluation for pathogen infection. Extrapolation of human-based surveillance data from neighboring communities likely provides inaccurate estimates for national parks because landscape differences impact transmission of vector-borne pathogens and human-vector contact rates likely differ inside versus outside the parks because of differences in activities or behaviors. Vector-based pathogen surveillance holds promise to deÞne when and where within national parks the risk of exposure to infected vectors is elevated. A pilot effort, including 5Ð10 strategic national parks, would greatly improve our understanding of the scope and magnitude of vector-borne pathogen transmission in these high-use public settings. Such efforts also will support messaging to promote personal protection measures and inform park visitors and staff of their responsibility for personal protection, which the National Park Service preservation mission dictates as the core strategy to reduce exposure to vector-borne pathogens in national parks.

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Section: Existing Information For Vectors and Vector-bornementioning

confidence: 99%

What is the Risk for Exposure to Vector-Borne Pathogens in United States National Parks?

Eisen¹,

Wong²,

Shelus³

et al. 2013

jnl. med. entom.

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“…Among 2,430 patients with leptospirosis 2,033 male patients and 397 female patients were reported. In the other countries the difference in male and female patients are explained by sexrelated occupations; [12,27,28] however, in Brazil it is unlikely that the observed differences in number of cases are related to different sex-specific occupational risk factors. Since the majority of the patients are hospitalized when have symptoms of severe leptospirosis such as jaundice, haemorrhage, kidney or liver failure, we can infer that male patients were more likely than female patients to be hospitalized and to exhibit symptoms of severe leptospirosis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fifteen years of human leptospirosis in São Paulo, Brazil

Blanco

Romero

2015

JER

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Objective: Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. The aim of this study was to report the incidence of leptospirosis from 1998 to 2012 in the state of São Paulo, Brazil to show the importance of human leptospirosis and to describe some epidemiological characteristics. Methods: From January 1998 to December 2012, sera from patients with suspected leptospirosis were analyzed. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used for serological investigations and MLST, serotyping and PFGE methods for the identification of leptospires. The descriptive seasonal analysis was performed with Excel Microsoft version 2007. Pearson's correlation was used to assess the association between rainfall and the number of cases. Results: Among 22,795 serum samples, 2,430 cases of leptospirosis were laboratory confirmed, giving an average incidence rate of 1.35/100,000 inhabitants. Of these patients, 2,032 (83.62%) were male with a predominance in the age groups of 21-50 years. The highest incidence and rainfall were from December to April. There was correlation between the rainfall and the number of cases. Icterohaemorrhagiae was the predominant serogroup. Conclusions: This study shows that leptospirosis is a seasonal disease in São Paulo with most cases occurring during the rainy season, and thus, will continue to be a disease of public health importance.

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“…Leptospirosis, plague, rat-bite fever, salmonellosis, tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, relapsing fever, and other illnesses can be transmitted directly or indirectly (e.g., by mosquitos or ticks) from rodents to humans. Incident infections of leptospirosis, La Crosse virus, and spotted fever group rickettsiae have been identified among NPS workers in the Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain National Parks [Adjemian et al, 2012]. Methods for reducing worker exposure to mice might also reduce worker exposure to other rodent-borne zoonoses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing prevention measures and sin nombre hantavirus seroprevalence among workers at Yosemite National Park

Wilken

Jackson

Materna

et al. 2015

American J Industrial Med

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Background During 2012, a total of 10 overnight visitors to Yosemite National Park (Yosemite) became infected with a hantavirus (Sin Nombre virus [SNV]); three died. SNV infections have been identified among persons with occupational exposure to deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Methods We assessed SNV infection prevalence, work and living environments, mice exposures, and SNV prevention training, knowledge, and practices among workers of two major employers at Yosemite during September-October, 2012 by voluntary blood testing and a questionnaire. Results One of 526 participants had evidence of previous SNV infection. Participants reported frequently observing rodent infestations at work and home and not always following prescribed safety practices for tasks, including infestation cleanup. Conclusion Although participants had multiple exposures to deer mice, we did not find evidence of widespread SNV infections. Nevertheless, employees working around deer mice should receive appropriate training and consistently follow prevention policies for high-risk activities.

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Zoonotic Infections Among Employees from Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain National Parks, 2008–2009

Cited by 33 publications

References 56 publications

What is the Risk for Exposure to Vector-Borne Pathogens in United States National Parks?

What is the Risk for Exposure to Vector-Borne Pathogens in United States National Parks?

Fifteen years of human leptospirosis in São Paulo, Brazil

Assessing prevention measures and sin nombre hantavirus seroprevalence among workers at Yosemite National Park

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