Water contamination associated with shale gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing in the U.S.: Wednesday, February 19th

Dr. Vengosh is a Professor of Geochemistry and Water Quality at the Nicholas School of Environment in Duke University.  He also is appointed at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University.  Dr. Vengosh received his BS and MS from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and his PhD from the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Currently Dr. Vengosh’s research includes the energy industry’s impact on water quality, environmental health related to human exposure of naturally occurring contaminants in drinking water and the salinization of water resources from human activities and climate change.

After a snow delay Dr. Vengosh spoke to the One Health Intellectual Exchange beginning with an introduction to sources of energy in the USA.  He explained that Natural Gas has recently overtaken Coal as the most produced energy in the US.  Here’s a table of the percent of energy produced in the US.

Natural Gas        31%

Coal                     26%

Crude Oil            21%

Nuclear               10%

Renewables        16%  which include wind, solar, hydropower, biomass etc.

It is projected that as natural gas production increases the use of oil will decrease a bit.  Other sources will stay about the same.  As the US produces more natural gas, we will begin to export it to Mexico and Canada which may increase prices.

Water quality is affected by several of the different energy industries such as mountaintop and sub-surface coal mining, shale gas fracking, coal ash disposal sites, tar sands etc.

What is myth and what is reality?  Several mainstream movies such as Gasland and The Promise Land have stirred the public’s interest (and opposition) to fracking.  Dr. Vengosh explains that there are lots of other chemicals used in energy harvesting which are just as bad but receive no press or protest.

Why is gas so important?  Natural gas is everywhere in the United States and around the world.  Using more natural gas would cause a decrease of wood burning as a fuel source.

What is fracking? 

What are the environmental risks of fracking?

• methane emissions in the air and water- methane causes more build-up of greenhouse gases
• 7-15 million liters of water per well is used- this is an issue where water is scarce.  The industry is moving towards 100% water recycling.  (Forty per cent of water used in the US is in coal and nuclear plants.)
• fracking chemical spills contaminate the immediate area
• air and water pollution at different stages of gas production
• disposal of the fracking fluids and the waste water
• health implications on quality of life

Of the above mentioned risks, 99% of the issues are with the waste water disposal.  Waste water is state regulated, not federally regulated.  There is a question if the states have proper regulations to monitor deep injection wells or is the waste water moved to another state?  He adds that earthquakes are not a major issue.

Some results from his studies:

1.       Stray gas contamination is real.  Meaning that water does catch on fire, but not always.

2.       Need to establish tools to detect fracking fluids in the environment.

3.       Disposal of shale gas waste water results in contamination and with radioactivity build up.

Water becomes contaminated from gas leaking from well casings, surface spills and waste water treatment and storage.  It is determined that living close (<1km) to a drill site will increase the per cent of methane (also ethane and propane) in the water.  Living > 10km away reduces this risk.  There has been no evidence of fracking fluids found in active wells.

What are fracking fluids?  They are proprietary chemicals but they do contain high salinity, Bromide, Strontium, NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) and organics including benzene, toluene, ethlybenzene, xylene and many other chemicals.

How/where can we treat fracking fluids?

• Municipal treatment facility- these are inadequate since the fluids will affect the domestic waste water.  Bromide in the water causes carcinogenic byproducts.
• Brine treatment facility-inadequate for halogens and radioactivity
• Deep well injection- this may induce seismicity
• Recycle to fracking- limited by water chemistry causing scaling and radioactivity

What are the solutions?

• Blend acid mine drainage and fracking fluids.  The SO4 from the acid will react with the Br, Sr and Rn capturing the radioactivity.
• Completely recycle the fracking fluids.
•  Must have a private well >1 km from a drilling site.

Submitted by Barbara A. Wujciak, OD

Farming for Food Safety

This past week Veterinary Record published Dr. Patrick Wall’s article “One Health and the food chain: maintaining safety in a globalized industry”[2] discussing the relationship between herd and farm animals with human health. Dr. Wall argues that the current “farm to fork” consumer’s mantra is ‘naive’ and he presents an alternate ‘maze’-like image of the food chain where even a slice from the local pizzeria has been impacted by legislation as far away as China--a main distributed of vitamins for animal rations.

                                                                                                   [1]

                                                                                             

Dr. Wall further argues that the “final objective” for the agri-food sector should be human health and that we should look to veterinarians and plant and animal geneticists for future food health interventions. Though many of his ideas are quite reasonable--no one can argue that diseased animals should not enter the food chain, he seems to be precariously close to calling out the so-called organic and small farm industry whose popularity is spreading beyond the affluent. Even a diet consisting of only home-raised animals will be touched by the animal feed industry.  On the one hand, more hands in the pot of production leaves more opportunity for contamination. On the other hand, careful involvement by veterinarians and scientists can lead to healthier a “final product”--for example, meat with naturally less saturated fat.

Is the future of food locally grown organics or carefully bred, monitored, and enhanced animals and plants?

---

[1] http://www.ineffableisland.com/2010/06/eu-funded-moniqa-tracks-edible-safety.html

[2] http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/174/8/189.full

Authored by Chrissy Dideriksen

Hemotropic Mycoplasmas: Insight into reservoirs and new species: Tuesday, February 18th

The North Carolina One Health Intellectual Exchange Group was pleased to host Ricardo Maggi, MS, Ph.D., a well-travelled and highly respected researcher of microbiology and vector borne pathogens.  Dr. Maggi earned his Doctorate from the University of Puerto Rico, where he researched the development of regulated gene expression systems in certain yeasts for biotechnological applications.  Although Dr. Maggi’s research has taken him to very scenic locations such as Milan, he now calls North Carolina home.  Currently, Professor Maggi is Co-Director of the Vector Borne Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.  There Dr. Maggi and his team aim to develop and implement cutting edge methods and technologies to improve the diagnosis of vector-borne pathogens. 

Dr. Maggi related with the audience the importance of conducting research on hemotrophic mycoplasmas, and their relevance in combating pathogenic potential in both animals and humans.  Hemotrophic mycoplasmas are epierythrocytic obligate bacteria, so evolutionary pressures have given these bacteria the opportunity to spread with the employ of arthropods as vectors.  While the ticks feed on their host, the hemoplasmas have been provided a route to another more suitable host.  Dr. Maggi explained to the Exchange Group how infections with hemoplasmas are often regarded as chronic and largely asymptomatic, so the optimal method of detecting infection would be through serology.  Cytological examination of stained blood smears under light microscopy had been the primary method of detecting hemoplasmas in veterinary medicine, although there were limitations such as the proper categorization of the many mycoplasma varieties.  Dr. Maggi and his research team have developed methods to categorize hemoplasmas based on their genetic makeup.  The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a biochemical technique used to amplify targeted sections of DNA, has proven to be a viable analytical tool in the proper identification of hemoplasmas. 

The gene sequences recognized and used by Dr. Maggi’s research team in the analysis and identification of hemoplasma subclusters is 16S rRNA.  These sequences are present in the Mycoplasma suis and Mycoplasma hemofelis groups.  This was an important step in the organization of the bacteria because what was found was the tip of the hemoplasma ice burg.  Dr. Maggi then explained to the Exchange how the M. suis and M. haemofelis subcluster included varietals that affected many animals that humans have established domestic or other relationships with.  Because of the genetic similarities of the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities within the members of the two aforementioned subclusters, the bacteria may be best categorized by the host that it has invaded. 

Noting the breadth of research in the proper analysis of mycoplasmas, Dr. Maggi spoke about the prevalence of the bacterial infections in many species.  The test subjects were sourced from many regions of the world on location.  Some of these animals and respective regions included dogs from Greece and domestic cats from the United States.  Although many animals did not display any signs of infection, in some animals hemoplasma infection was associated with hemolytic anemia of variable degrees of severity.  Comparative immunology was also evaluated between selected primates and humans.  In all, research suggests that hemotrophic mycoplasmas are very adaptable organisms.  They have the ability to change to fit the physiological profiles of their respective hosts.  For this reason Dr. Maggi expressed the importance of recognizing mycoplasmas as emerging zoonotic pathogens. 

The challenge in researching the pathogen lies in the lack of “respect” for these tick-borne pathogens in the greater healthcare and government institutions.  Because ticks are largely isolated in heavily-wooded areas, the potential for human infection is greatly reduced.  This is especially so in urban areas, where ticks typically do not inhabit except through the means of a travelling host.  Dr. Maggi stressed the importance of educating the larger community of the dangers of tick-borne mycoplasmas, and the role researchers in many disciplines may play in combating the pathogen.  This includes creative means of attracting the proper funding to control the spread of the tick-borne diseases.  Ticks are very slow moving in nature, and do not travel great distances from their native regions except by latching on to a host or through other artificial transit modes. 

Another important point brought up in discussion was the growing trend to globalize markets.  Many livestock and other goods are transported to different countries, and a consequence may also be the transport of ticks and other organisms carrying pathogens.  The education of animal handlers and health workers in the proper detection and removal of ticks is essential in combating hemoplasmas.  More importantly, once the obvious obligate has been identified, it is essential to properly screen the inhabitants for the presence of hemoplasmas.  Dr. Maggi concluded his discussion with the students of One Health with a charge to expand on the research already done on mycoplasmas, a largely underappreciated pathogen with the potential to harm many species.  Perhaps comparative immunology may provide perspective on a species that is resistant to the bacteria, and may provide a vaccine.  Perhaps there may be an arthropod species that resists the invasion.  Dr. Maggi stresses the constant transparency and collaboration between human and veterinary medical disciplines, along with the cooperation of environmental and governmental agencies in identifying risk factors associated with mycoplasmas, and measures to prevent infection of a silent pathogen.

Cedric Harvey

NCSU

Senior, Biological Sciences-Human Biology

Primates and their Parasites: Disease Ecology in a Changing World: Tuesday, February 11th

The North Carolina One Health Collaborate was honored to host Charles Nunn, Ph.D., a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, as this week’s keynote speaker. Dr. Nunn, who received his Ph.D. from Duke in 1999, left his position at Harvard University this past year to return to the Research Triangle. Prior to his work at Harvard, he held various positions at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and the University of Virginia.

Dr. Nunn currently leads the Comparative Primatology and Research Group at Duke where his lab focuses on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases in wildlife, particularly among primates and other mammals. His work addresses basic questions about wildlife diseases as well as zoonotic disease risks and the conservation of biodiversity. He conducts large-scale studies on parasites that infect mammals to understand patterns of disease risk in natural systems, especially at the ecological interface between humans and wildlife. Through statistical analysis and modeling, he studies the spread of infectious agents in wildlife populations.

Dr. Nunn began his talk by comparing the number of parasites found in wild primates to those found in humans. The data was staggeringly clear: humans are afflicted with a substantially higher rate of parasites. Interestingly, early humans faced rates comparable to those of modern day wild primates. Dr. Nunn addressed this difference by discussing the changes in our lifestyles, activity levels, as well as the impacts of the agricultural revolution and its influence on the spillover of diseases between humans and animals.

After his introduction, Dr. Nunn’s presentation narrowed and shifted in focus to explicitly illustrate how research that integrates theoretical modeling and broad evolutionary comparisons is providing new insights to infectious disease ecology. Ultimately, it is his hope that these studies and comparisons will continue to increase our understanding of human disease risk, an idea elaborated upon by discussing the details of parasite sharing in wild primates and what this information can tell us about our own infections. Dr. Nunn went on to discuss how population group size influences parasitism in the wild and then explained the intricacies of the various meta-analysis techniques employable for this purpose. These kinds of meta-analysis techniques were also used to determine what the consequences (in terms of disease risk) are when humans disrupt natural ecological communities, another idea brought up by Dr. Nunn. Audience questions focused on these complex meta-analyses and their methodology and application.

Although often overly dramatized in science fiction thriller novels and films, infectious diseases pose a real threat to humans worldwide. If we reduce our focus to just zoonotic diseases, we see the Bas-Congo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Novel Coronavirus in the Middle East, and the Hantavirus in Yosemite, among others, as present real-life examples of infectious diseases affecting various parts of the world. The pages of history have shown what a profound impact these kinds of diseases and other infectious diseases can have on the cultures, prosperity, and survival of entire population groups. As we look forward toward the remainder of the 21^st century, we must reflect on lessons from the past and acknowledge that infectious diseases will inevitably (and unfortunately) continue to help steer the present direction of our lives and future as a species.

This new century also brings with it novel considerations and unforeseen challenges for us to tackle. The effects of climate change threaten to result in the emersion of new disease vectors that will exacerbate transmission and infection among humans. Furthermore, as bacteria become resistant to our traditional antibiotic treatments, we will be forced to adapt and alter how we practice both veterinarian and human medicine. Ultimately, understanding ecology and evolution will be essential on our path toward addressing problems like these. As shown by Dr. Nunn, adopting a multiple disciplinary perspective might lead to additional insight that will help us discover resolutions.

Post authored by Thomas Woo, a junior majoring in biological sciences (human biology concentration) at North Carolina State University. 

The Link Between Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse

Recently Ohio.com published an article entitled “Animal abuse often signals domestic violence; Canton rescue group fills the need for fearful victims.” ^[1] The article details the work of Peace for Pets (peaceforpets.org) who provide a place for people who are fleeing abusive relationships to find a safe place for their pets without leaving them behind. So, why is this important?

                There are three reasons to focus on pets when it comes to domestic violence. The first is that animal abuse can be a sign of domestic violence in a home. Women in shelters were 11 times more likely to report the animal abuse then to report the abuse they themselves were experiencing.^[2]  The second is that the animal abuse is also abuse on the people. Most shelter women and children reported that seeing the animal abused added to the distress they were feeling in this situations.^[2] The last reason is the crux of what Peace for Pets is doing; women who were abused said that concern for the pet prevented them from leaving their abusers.^[2]

Authored by Chris Pierson

References

• Antoniotti, Kathy. 2013. “Animal Abuse often signals domestic violence; Canton rescue group fills the need for fearful victims.” Ohio.com. January 2014. http://www.ohio.com/news/animal-abuse-often-signals-domestic-violence-canton-rescue-group-fills-need-for-fearful-victims-1.462792
• Ascione, FR, CV Weber, TM Thompson, J Heath, M Maruyama, K Hayashi. 2007. “Battered Pets and Domestic Violence: Animal Abuse Reported by Women Experiencing Intimate Violence and by Nonabused Women.” Violence Against Women [Internet]. 13:354. (Apr 2007). Accessed 11 Feb 2014. http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/13/4/354.full.pdf+html

One Health, One Welfare: Supporting human livelihoods through improved health and welfare of working animals: Tuesday, February 4th

Andy Stringer, BVSc PhD MRCVS is Director of Veterinary Programmes for SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad) where he directs SPANA’s global veterinary programs. SPANA (www.spana.org) is a British charity that works to improve the health and welfare of working animals worldwide, and thereby support the livelihoods of those who depend on them. Dr. Stringer also holds a position as an Honorary Lecturer in International Animal Health at the Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool where he is involved in teaching and research.

SPANA’s primary objective to improve the health and welfare of working animals worldwide can be reached through a multifaceted approach that includes providing direct veterinary care through clinics and field work, improving and supporting the training and capacity building of vet professionals and paraprofessionals, supporting teaching institutions in country, providing community education, and conducting research programs and evaluations of all of the above.  In addition SPANA provides limited response to emergency situations encompassing both environmental disasters and conflict related emergency care of equine work animals. 

Work animals can include the span of horses, camels, oxen, and donkeys (most common). These animals are at risk for misuse and abuse because they are largely absent from protection within agricultural and research regulations and therefore the ownership and treatment of these animals varies and is often attached to more to cultural values rather than ethical values.

Dr. Stringer delved into the discussion of the sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA), which is a way to improve understanding of the livelihoods of poor people.  By building assets including human, social, natural, physical, and financial capital, individuals and households develop their capacity to cope with the challenges they encounter and to meet their needs on a sustained basis. Dr. Stringer mentions a quote that was told to him by a villager:

“If you have a healthy working animal you can be the King of a village, if you have no animal you can be the King of poverty”

Dr. Stringer encourages a holistic approach to help animals.  The relief of suffering, which can include heat exposure, potential for injury, overworked conditions, inadequate diets, and inadequate handling equipment, is crucial for the longevity of the animals.  Among the major issues is one of inadequate veterinary care where animals lack appropriate treatment for infections, foreign body ingestion, and wounds caused by poor harnesses (abscesses), traffic accidents and poor home remedies including burning.  

Examples of some of the projects being implemented were given:

• Changing harnesses for safer versions locally made to help prevent wounds
•  Reflective ear tags for animals to wear for reduction of night traffic accidents
• Providing proper saddles for transporting pregnant women from mountains which are also comfortable and ergonomically correct for animal use

Challenges of Interventions include how to sustainably change attitudes, knowledge, culture.

Dr Stringer entertained multiple questions from the audience include ones regarding:

•  Infection transmission between owners and animals which he answered as unknown because of limited available information
• Has there been a “mutual healer” training to address both human and animal needs? “no”
• How does SPANA help in communities of displaced people and their work animals?
• This is addressed with helping offload animals from their owners and then often gifting them back or selling them back for a reduced price which helps to keep the animals in a stable environment while the owners re-establish.  This is supported with a restocking with animals from the region as naïve animals that are brought in are susceptible to illness and people may have better knowledge of native species.

The presentation concluded with a quote from a recent article published about One Health:

“It is time to consider whether One Health will prove to be a short-lived response to a spate of emerging diseases that apparently threatened to engulf the world, or a paradigm shift that will lead to a wider and deeper commitment to interdisciplinary action addressing the protection and needs of society in the 21^st century”

– E. Paul J. Gibbs., BVSc, PhD, FRCVS

To which he responded that while he hopes it is the latter, he feels as though the interdisciplinary world is currently in a stage of doubt, but hopes it will be followed closely by acceptance. 

Authored by Christina Gonzalez