Risk Factors for Enteric Pathogen Exposure among Children in Black Belt Region of Alabama, USA.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Capone D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10683812 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Risk Factors for Enteric Pathogen Exposure among Children in Black Belt Region of Alabama, USA.
Capone Drew D Bakare Toheedat T Barker Troy T Chatham Amy Hutson AH Clark Ryan R Copperthwaite Lauren L Flemister Abeoseh A Geason Riley R Hoos Emery E Kim Elizabeth E Manoj Alka A Pomper Sam S Samodal Christina C Smith Simrill S Poole Claudette C Brown Joe J
Emerging infectious diseases 20231201 12
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Project description:We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) in areas of rural Alabama, USA, that have sanitation deficits. We enrolled 777 children; 704 submitted stool specimens and 227 a dried blood spot sample. We microscopically examined stool specimens from all 704 children by using Mini-FLOTAC for helminth eggs. We tested a subset by using molecular techniques: real-time PCR analysis for 5 STH species, TaqMan Array Cards for enteric helminths, and digital PCR for Necator americanus hookworm. We analyzed dried blood spots for Strongyloides stercoralis and Toxocara spp. roundworms by using serologic testing. Despite 12% of our cohort reporting living in homes that directly discharge untreated domestic wastewater, stool testing for STH was negative; however, 5% of dried blood spots were positive for Toxocara spp. roundworms. Survey data suggests substantial numbers of children in this region may be exposed to raw sewage, which is itself a major public health concern.
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Project description:Areas of rural Alabama may be at risk for re-emergence of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) where environmental conditions are favorable for STH transmission, including in the agricultural Black Belt region. We describe pediatric Medicaid STH visits in Alabama and compare STH visit rates in Black Belt counties with those of non-Black Belt counties. Alabama Medicaid visit claims among children aged 0-18 years who received an STH diagnosis during January 2010-December 2018 were examined. STH-related pediatric visits were uncommon, but several counties with higher STH rates were identified. Visit rates did not differ meaningfully when comparing Black Belt with non-Black Belt region counties (rate ratio: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.73-1.64). Additional studies examining STH prevalence among children living in communities at risk for STH in Alabama can further clarify STH burden and identify communities experiencing environmental and sanitation conditions favorable to STH endemicity.
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Project description:The bacteriophage Demsculpinboyz was discovered in a soil sample from the Black Belt region of Alabama using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 as its host. The genome is 57,437 bp long and contains 116 protein-coding genes. It belongs to the F2 subcluster, which has only five other members.
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Project description:BackgroundThere is a growing housing crisis in rural America with homelessness growing in addition to a growing number of substandard homes due to an inability to afford the costs of repair and maintenance. The goal of the current study was to assess the housing concerns in rural Alabama Black Belt communities which are often understudied and the relationship between housing quality and respiratory health.MethodsA semi-random sampling of five Black Belt counties was conducted to obtain a sample of 253 rural households. The survey was designed to obtain information regarding household income, housing status including a list of safety concerns and respiratory health. A χ 2 analysis was performed to examine the effect of housing type and income on prevalence of respiratory illness and safety home concerns (e.g., roofing, windows/doors, floors, mold/mildew).ResultsThe majority of households surveyed had an annual income below $15,000 and owned their homes with over half of the homes being manufactured homes. Lower income was associated with increased prevalence of asthma [χ 2(2, N = 237) = 7.75, p = 0.021], while living in a manufactured home was associated with increased risk of allergies [χ 2(1, N = 251) = 7.88, p = 0.005]. Additionally, poor windows and doors [χ 2(1, N = 253) = 3.8, p = 0.05] was associated with higher prevalence of asthma.ConclusionsThe results confirm and expand previous results and demonstrate the relationship between quality housing and allergy and asthma prevalence in rural areas with an abundance of aging manufactured homes.
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Project description:To promote the environmental sustainability of rural sanitation, a soil moisture controlled wastewater subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) dispersal system was field tested in the Black Belt Prairie of Alabama, USA. The soil moisture control strategy was designed to regulate wastewater disposal timing according to drain field conditions to prevent hydraulic overloading and corresponding environmental hazard. CW2D/HYDRUS simulation modeling was utilized to explore difficult-to-measure aspects of system performance. While the control system successfully adapted hydraulic loading rate to changing drain field conditions, saturated field conditions during the dormant season presented practical application challenges. The paired field experiment and simulation model demonstrate that soil biofilm growth was stimulated in the vicinity of drip emitters. Although biofilm growth is critical in maintaining adequate COD and NH4+-N removal efficiencies, the efficient removal of biodegradable COD itself by soil biofilm limits denitrification of formed NO3--N . Furthermore, stimulated soil biofilm growth can create soil clogging around drip emitters, which was discerned in the field experiment along with salt accumulation, both of which were verified by simulation. Comparable modeling of system performance in sand and clay media demonstrate that the placement of soil moisture sensors within the drain field can have pronounced impacts on system hydraulic performance, depending on the soil permeability. Overall, the soil moisture control strategy tested is shown as a viable supplemental technology to promote the environmental sustainability of rural sanitation systems.
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Project description:Despite global efforts on meeting sustainable development goals by 2030, persistent and widespread sanitation deficits in rural, underserved communities in high-income countries─including the United States (US)─challenge achieving this target. The recent US federal infrastructure funding, coupled with research efforts to explore innovative, alternative decentralized wastewater systems, are unprecedented opportunities for addressing basic sanitation gaps in these communities. Yet, understanding how to best manage these systems for sustainable operations and maintenance (O&M) is still a national need. Here, we develop an integrated management approach for achieving such sustainable systems, taking into account the utility structure, operational aspects, and possible barriers impeding effective management of decentralized wastewater infrastructure. We demonstrate this approach through a binomial logistic regression of survey responses from 114 public and private management entities (e.g., water and sewer utilities) operating in 27 states in the US, targeting the rural Alabama Black Belt wastewater issues. Our assessment introduces policy areas that support sustainable decentralized wastewater systems management and operations, including privatizing water-wastewater infrastructure systems, incentivizing/mandating the consolidation of utility management of these systems, federally funding the O&M, and developing and retaining water-wastewater workforce in rural, underserved communities. Our discussions give rise to a holistic empirical understanding of effective management of decentralized wastewater infrastructure for rural, underserved communities in the US, thereby contributing to global conversations on sustainable development.
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Project description:BackgroundTo identify important barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among African Americans living in the Black Belt region.MethodsA cross-sectional, web-based questionnaire survey was conducted using best-worst scaling case 1 (the object case). Thirty-two potential barriers to COVID-19 vaccination were identified from the literature and confirmed by an expert. A nested balanced incomplete block design was used to generate 62 sets of 16 choice tasks. Each choice task included six barriers. Participants were asked to choose the most and least important barriers to their COVID-19 vaccination in each choice task of one set. The natural logarithm of the square root of best counts divided by the worst counts of each barrier was calculated to rank the importance of barriers.ResultsResponses from a total of 808 participants were included. Among 32 barriers to COVID-19 vaccination, the five most important barriers were "safety concern of COVID-19 vaccines," "rapid mutation of COVID-19," "ingredients of COVID-19 vaccines," "Emergency Use Authorization (Fast-track approval) of COVID-19 vaccines," and "inconsistent information of COVID-19 vaccines." On the other hand, the five least important barriers were "religious reasons," "lack of time to get COVID-19 vaccine," "no support from my family and friends," "political reasons," and "fear of the needle."ConclusionsImportant barriers to the COVID-19 vaccination for African Americans living in the Black Belt region centered around the issues that could be resolved by communication strategies.
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