Andrew Taylor-Robinson

By Narayan Gyawali and Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson

Dengue is an increasingly common mosquito-borne, flaviviral disease of significant public health concern. The disease is endemic throughout tropical and subtropical regions, placing almost half of the world’s population at risk, and each year approaching 100 million people in around 130 countries are infected. There is acknowledged to be four antigenically distinct serotypes of the virus, and arguably a fifth, each of which elicits a full spectrum of clinical disease. This ranges from asymptomatic self-limiting infection to life-threatening severe manifestations characterized by plasma leakage, bleeding, and/or organ failure. Recovery from primary infection by one serotype provides life-long immunity against reinfection by that particular serotype, whereas with subsequent infections by other serotypes, the risk of developing severe dengue is increased. Rising mortality and morbidity rates caused by infection in recent years are attributable partly to a lack of availability of effective antiviral therapies and vaccines. In this context, early detection of infection with sensitive and specific laboratory tools and the prompt clinical management of this disease is a health care priority. Although a variety of techniques are currently used for laboratory diagnosis of dengue, no single methodology satisfies the ideal requirement for both sensitivity and specificity, while also being rapid and inexpensive. Newer detection tools that can fill this acknowledged gap in dengue diagnosis are urgently required.

Part of the book: Dengue

By Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson

Contamination of emergency medical vehicles with pathogenic microbes poses a potential threat to public health considering the many millions of ambulance responses that are made globally each year. This risk of infection is to the patients, to their companions who may travel with them, and to the paramedic first responders whose work involves pre- or inter-hospital transfer. This applies particularly to contamination by those infectious disease-causing microbes for which the threat is heightened because of their recognized resistance to leading antimicrobial agents. Determining the risks should facilitate the advancement of best practices to enhance infection control of routine outbreaks and during a major emergency such as a disease pandemic or a bioterrorism event. This may merit the introduction of amended guidelines for ambulance cleaning and disinfection to achieve more effective pre-hospital infection control among the worldwide community of emergency service providers.

Part of the book: Healthcare Access

By Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson and Olaitan O. Omitola

A propensity to re-emerge is a characteristic of bacterial zoonoses, diseases caused by bacteria that can be transmitted to humans from animals. Research shows that their transmission occurs in Nigeria, the most populated nation in Africa. However, due to insufficient epidemiological surveillance of bacterial zoonoses, the magnitude and burden of these infectious diseases is not fully acknowledged. They are therefore not a priority target of the national public health policy. This lesser concern is regardless of their likely role in the extensive prevalence of non-malarial undifferentiated fever in Nigeria. Several animal reservoirs and arthropod vectors of transmission have been identified for these diseases, Yet, the increase in cases of undiagnosed febrile illness emphasizes the imperative to undertake an extensive evaluation of other possible reservoirs, vectors and transmission cycles that may raise the local risk of zoonotic bacterial infections. Animal health interventions have been advanced as an economically viable and practical approach. Further, facilitating the operation of a community-based One Health program is essential to providing the comprehensive epidemiological information that is required in order to improve prioritization of bacterial zoonoses. This would generate impetus for much-needed investment in relevant public health interventions.

Part of the book: Zoonosis of Public Health Interest

By Zahra Sedarat and Andrew W. Taylor-Robinson

Quorum sensing (QS) is a complex system of communication used by bacteria, including several notable pathogens that pose a significant threat to public health. The central role of QS in biofilm activity has been demonstrated extensively. The small extracellular signaling molecules, known as autoinducers, that are released during this process of cell-to-cell communication play a key part in gene regulation. QS is involved in such diverse intracellular operations as modulation of cellular function, genetic material transfer, and metabolite synthesis. There are three main types of QS in bacteria, metabolites of which may form the target for novel treatment approaches. The autoinducing peptide system exists only in Gram-positive bacteria, being replaced in Gram-negative species by the acyl-homoserine lactone system, whereas the autoinducer-2 system occurs in both.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Bacterial Biofilm Studies