Leveraging Rural Energy Investment for Parasitic Disease Control: Schistosome Ova Inactivation and Energy Co-Benefits of Anaerobic Digesters in Rural China

Cooking and heating remain the most energy intensive activities among the world's poor, and thus improved access to clean energies for these tasks has been highlighted as a key requirement of attaining the major objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals. A move towards clean energy technologies such as biogas systems (which produce methane from human and animal waste) has the potential to provide immediate benefits for the control of neglected tropical diseases. Here, an assessment of the parasitic disease and energy benefits of biogas systems in Sichuan Province, China, is presented, highlighting how the public health sector can leverage the proliferation of rural energy projects for infectious disease control. ova) counted at the influent of two biogas systems were removed in the systems when adjusted for system residence time, an approximate 1-log removal attributable to sedimentation. Combined, these inactivation/removal processes underscore the promise of biogas infrastructure for reducing parasite contamination resulting from nightsoil use. When interviewed an average of 4 years after construction, villagers attributed large changes in fuel usage to the installation of biogas systems. Household coal usage decreased by 68%, wood by 74%, and crop waste by 6%. With reported energy savings valued at roughly 600 CNY per year, 2–3 years were required to recoup the capital costs of biogas systems. In villages without subsidies, no new biogas systems were implemented.Sustainable strategies that integrate rural energy needs and sanitation offer tremendous promise for long-term control of parasitic diseases, while simultaneously reducing energy costs and improving quality of life. Government policies can enhance the financial viability of such strategies by introducing fiscal incentives for joint sanitation/sustainable energy projects, along with their associated public outreach and education programs

Group B streptococcus serotype prevalence in reproductive-age women at a tertiary care military medical center relative to global serotype distribution

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Group B <it>Streptococcus </it>(GBS) serotype (Ia, Ib, II-IX) correlates with pathogen virulence and clinical prognosis. Epidemiological studies of seroprevalence are an important metric for determining the proportion of serotypes in a given population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of individual GBS serotypes at Madigan Healthcare System (Madigan), the largest military tertiary healthcare facility in the Pacific Northwestern United States, and to compare seroprevalences with international locations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To determine serotype distribution at Madigan, we obtained GBS isolates from standard-of-care anogenital swabs from 207 women of indeterminate gravidity between ages 18-40 during a five month interval. Serotype was determined using a recently described molecular method of polymerase chain reaction by capsular polysaccharide synthesis (cps) genes associated with pathogen virulence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serotypes Ia, III, and V were the most prevalent (28%, 27%, and 17%, respectively). A systematic review of global GBS seroprevalence, meta-analysis, and statistical comparison revealed strikingly similar serodistibution at Madigan relative to civilian-sector populations in Canada and the United States. Serotype Ia was the only serotype consistently higher in North American populations relative to other geographic regions (p < 0.005). The number of non-typeable isolates was significantly lower in the study (p < 0.005).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study establishes PCR-based serotyping as a viable strategy for GBS epidemiological surveillance. Our results suggest that GBS seroprevalence remains stable in North America over the past two decades.</p

Solid Waste from the Instant Coffee Industry as a Substrate for Anaerobic Thermophilic Digestion

In the process of producing “instant coffee”, large quantities of relatively solid waste (20%) are left, causing ecological harm to the area by polluting ground water, and which therefore have to be carted from the factory and dumped, at considerable expense. Several solutions and alternative uses of the coffee wastes have already been examined (as fertilizers, livestock feed, compost) without giving economically viable results. The aim of this research was to develop biogas technology for the treatment of coffee wastes and the evaluation of the digested material as a growth medium for horticulture. The study included anaerobic, thermophilic, methanogenic digestion of solid coffee wastes in laboratory scale digesters. Optimal conditions for the process in loading rates, retention time, solids concentration and chemical parameters were examined. The results of these experiments showed that digestion of instant coffee waste is a feasible process, not requiring the expected addition of nitrogen, nor prior grinding of the coffee waste, though pH control was necessary. The continuous anaerobic digestion process can achieve a steady state of fermentation at loading rates up to 4.7 g VS/l/d. The overall qualities of the digested slurry were determined, with a view to their suitability for horticulture. It was found that there is a clear similarity in both root and plant growth using peat-moss or digested coffee slurry, after thermophilic digestion, as soil growth media for growing Gypsophila. Growth promotion effects on Phlox plants were found, as well as a positive effect on the growth-rate of rootlets sprouting in Lysimachiafontuni.</jats:p