Environmental health effects attributed to toxic and infectious agents following hurricanes, cyclones, flash floods and major hydrometeorological events

Erickson, Timothy; Brooks, Julia; Nilles, Eric J.; Pham, Phuong; Vinck, Patrick

doi:10.1080/10937404.2019.1654422

Cited by 55 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Floods are the most common natural disaster globally [81]. They can affect pregnancy health by disrupting infrastructure, limiting access to safe food and water, facilitating the spread of waterborne pathogen and certain vectors, and creating the opportunity for unintentional distribution hazardous chemicals such as heavy metals and toxic pesticide compounds [82][83][84][85]. Health impacts of floods are commonly evaluated together with hurricanes as they often occur simultaneously.…”

Section: Extreme Weather Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Changing Climate and Pregnancy Health

2022

Curr Envir Health Rpt

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Purpose of Review Climate change is the biggest public health threat of the twenty-first century but its impact on the perinatal period has only recently received attention. This review summarizes recent literature regarding the impacts of climate change and related environmental disasters on pregnancy health and provides recommendations to inform future adaptation and mitigation efforts. Recent Findings Accumulating evidence suggests that the changing climate affects pregnancy health directly via discrete environmental disasters (i.e., wildfire, extreme heat, hurricane, flood, and drought), and indirectly through changes in the natural and social environment. Although studies vary greatly in design, analytic methods, and assessment strategies, they generally converge to suggest that climate-related disasters are associated with increased risk of gestational complication, pregnancy loss, restricted fetal growth, low birthweight, preterm birth, and selected delivery/newborn complications. Window(s) of exposure with the highest sensitivity are not clear, but both acute and chronic exposures appear important. Furthermore, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations may be more vulnerable. Summary Policy, clinical, and research strategies for adaptation and mitigation should be continued, strengthened, and expanded with cross-disciplinary efforts. Top priorities should include (a) reinforcing and expanding policies to further reduce emission, (b) increasing awareness and education resources for healthcare providers and the public, (c) facilitating access to quality population-based data in low-resource areas, and (d) research efforts to better understand mechanisms of effects, identify susceptible populations and windows of exposure, explore interactive impacts of multiple exposures, and develop novel methods to better quantify pregnancy health impacts.

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Section: Extreme Weather Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Changing Climate and Pregnancy Health

2022

Curr Envir Health Rpt

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“…Hurricanes and other extreme weather events that can result in massive flooding of urban or agricultural areas have profound public health implications for contamination of surface waters (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Section: Introduction and Specific Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for Campylobacter spp. Reveals High Prevalence and Pronounced Genetic Diversity of Arcobacter butzleri in Floodwater Samples Associated with Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, USA

Niedermeyer

Miller

Yee

et al. 2020

Appl Environ Microbiol

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In September 2018, Hurricane Florence caused extreme flooding in eastern North Carolina, USA, a region highly dense in concentrated animal production, especially swine and poultry. In this study, floodwater samples (n=96) were collected as promptly post-hurricane as possible and for up to approx. 30 days, and selectively enriched for Campylobacter using Bolton broth enrichment and isolation on mCCDA microaerobically at 42°C. Only one sample yielded Campylobacter, which was found to be Campylobacter jejuni with the novel genotype ST-2866. However, the methods employed to isolate Campylobacter readily yielded Arcobacter from 73.5% of the floodwater samples. The Arcobacter isolates failed to grow on Mueller-Hinton agar at 25, 30, 37 or 42°C microaerobically or aerobically, but could be readily subcultured on mCCDA at 42°C microaerobically. Multilocus sequence typing of 112 isolates indicated that all were Arcobacter butzleri. The majority (85.7%) of the isolates exhibited novel sequence types (STs), with 66 novel STs identified. Several STs, including certain novel ones, were detected in diverse waterbody types (channel, isolated ephemeral pools, floodplain) and from multiple watersheds, suggesting the potential for regionally-dominant strains. The genotypes were clearly partitioned into two major clades, one with high representation of human and ruminant isolates and another with an abundance of swine and poultry isolates. Surveillance of environmental waters and food animal production systems in this animal agriculture-dense region is needed to assess potential regional prevalence and temporal stability of the observed A. butzleri strains, as well as their potential association with specific types of food animal production. IMPORTANCE Climate change and associated extreme weather events can have massive impacts on the prevalence of microbial pathogens in floodwaters. However, limited data are available on foodborne zoonotic pathogens such as Campylobacter or Arcobacter in hurricane-associated floodwaters in rural regions with intensive animal production. With high density of intensive animal production as well as pronounced vulnerability to hurricanes, Eastern North Carolina presents unique opportunities in this regard. Our findings revealed widespread incidence of the emerging zoonotic pathogen Arcobacter butzleri in floodwaters from Hurricane Florence. We encountered high and largely unexplored diversity while also noting the potential for regionally-abundant and persistent clones. We noted pronounced partitioning of the floodwater genotypes in two source-associated clades. The data will contribute to elucidating the poorly-understood ecology of this emerging pathogen, and highlight the importance of surveillance of floodwaters associated with hurricanes and other extreme weather events for Arcobacter and other zoonotic pathogens.

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“…We examine over 17,000 private well water samples that were collected by county health offices statewide and processed through the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. We focus on nitrate, manganese, lead, chromium, cadmium and arsenic results, which are all known to disrupt in utero development and have exposure pathways related to major storm events (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). While these samples are not taken from the same residences of our pregnant women sample, both data sets have statewide and residence-level coverage and use the same selection into treatment window around Hurricane Irene.…”

Section: B)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Expecting Mother Nature: Uncertain Hurricane Forecasts Disrupt Prenatal Care and Impair Birth Outcomes

Hochard¹,

Li²

2021

Preprint

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Early forecasts give people in a storm's path time to prepare. Less is known about the cost to society when forecasts are incorrect. We examine over 700,000 births in the path of Hurricane Irene and find exposure led to a decrease in birth weights and increase in preterm and low birth weight outcomes. Additional warning time decreased preterm birth rates for women who experienced intense storm exposures documenting a benefit of avoiding a type II forecasting error. A larger share of this at-risk population experienced a type I forecasting error where severe physical storm impacts were anticipated but not experienced. Disaster anticipation disrupted healthcare services by delaying and canceling prenatal care leading to impaired birth outcomes. Recognizing storm damages depend on human responses to predicted storm paths is critical to supporting the next generation's developmental potential with judicious forecasts that ensure public warning systems mitigate rather than exacerbate climate damages.

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Environmental health effects attributed to toxic and infectious agents following hurricanes, cyclones, flash floods and major hydrometeorological events

Cited by 55 publications

References 71 publications

The Changing Climate and Pregnancy Health

The Changing Climate and Pregnancy Health

Search for Campylobacter spp. Reveals High Prevalence and Pronounced Genetic Diversity of Arcobacter butzleri in Floodwater Samples Associated with Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, USA

Expecting Mother Nature: Uncertain Hurricane Forecasts Disrupt Prenatal Care and Impair Birth Outcomes

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