Mass vaccination campaigns reduce the substantial burden of yellow fever in Africa

 

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Yellow fever, an acute viral disease, is estimated to have been responsible for 78,000 deaths in Africa in 2013 according to new research published in PLOS Medicine this week. The research by Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London, UK and colleagues from Imperial College, WHO and other institutions also estimates that recent mass vaccination campaigns against yellow fever have led to a 27% decrease in the burden of yellow fever across Africa in 2013.

Yellow fever is a serious viral disease that affects people living in and visiting tropical regions of Africa and Central and South America. In rural areas next to forests, the virus typically causes sporadic cases or even small-scale epidemics (outbreaks) but, if it is introduced into urban areas, it can cause large explosive epidemics that are hard to control. Although many people who contract yellow fever do not develop any symptoms, some have mild flu-like symptoms, and others develop a high fever with jaundice or hemorrhaging from the mouth, nose, eyes, or stomach. About 50% of patients who develop these severe symptoms die. Fortunately, an effective vaccine against the disease exists.

The authors of the study used sophisticated statistical methods to estimate the burden of yellow fever in Africa based on outbreak data, serological surveys and environmental data but note that there is substantial uncertainty in their estimates because of the difficulty of diagnosing yellow fever and a lack of available data. Therefore the estimates for the number of severe cases of yellow fever in Africa in 2013 range from 51,000 to 380,000, and from 19,000 to 180,000 for deaths due to the disease.

Nevertheless, the study provides the most reliable contemporary estimates for the burden of yellow fever and the impact of vaccination campaigns in Africa. The researchers estimate that vaccination has reduced yellow fever cases and deaths by 27% across Africa, with much higher reductions in some countries targeted by vaccination campaigns. The authors note that their study has already been influential, "[p]artly as a result of [our estimates], in late 2013 the GAVI [Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization] Board decided to make available support for additional yellow fever vaccination campaigns, targeting 144 million people across the endemic region in Africa."

The authors also note, "[t]he impact of both past and future mass vaccination campaigns will prevent a substantial proportion of yellow fever disease burden for years to come... the achievements of the current mass vaccination campaigns could be sustained if a high level of immunization is achieved through a strong EPI [infant immunization] program and preventive vaccination of populations that remain at risk, such as migrants or populations from as yet unvaccinated districts."

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by PLOS. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Tini Garske, Maria D. Van Kerkhove, Sergio Yactayo, Olivier Ronveaux, Rosamund F. Lewis, J. Erin Staples, William Perea, Neil M. Ferguson. Yellow Fever in Africa: Estimating the Burden of Disease and Impact of Mass Vaccination from Outbreak and Serological Data. PLoS Medicine, 2014; 11 (5): e1001638 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001638

Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer

 

 

An electronic nose developed by Finnish researchers is capable of distinguishing between prostate cancer and benign disease and could result in a less invasive approach to diagnosis

Typical approaches to diagnosing prostate cancer can be costly and invasive. Furthermore, a large number of prostate cancers are low-grade and won't result in symptoms or death, meaning that without necessarily extending it, aggressive forms of treatment can impact a sufferer's quality of life. In an attempt to establish a less invasive method of detecting the condition, Finnish researchers have developed an electronic nose capable of sniffing the patient's urine sample to distinguish between prostate cancer and benign disease.

The potential of smell as a diagnostics tool first emerged in the 1980s following reports of dogs capable of detecting cancer in their owners. Subsequent experimental studies demonstrated that indeed, trained sniffer dogs could detect cancer, though the value of this approach was questionable due to the unreliable performance of the canines. While a dog's role in sniffing out cancer is limited, it has provided inspiration for the development of various electronic sensors to serve the same purpose, such as that produced at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2010.

The ChemPro 100–eNose device developed by the researchers at the Department of Vascular Surgery, Tampere University Hospital in Finland uses a cluster of nonspecific sensors to produce a profile or "smell print." Citing preliminary data indicating the detection of malignancies was possible by sniffing the urine headspace, (space directly above a urine sample), the team conducted a clinical study comprising 65 patients.

Of that number, 50 had been diagnosed with prostate cancer via biopsy, while 15 had been diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Using the eNose to examine the urine headspace of samples provided by the patients, the device demonstrated an ability to distinguish prostate cancer from BPH, correctly identified 78 percent of cancer sufferers and 67 percent of those with BPH. The researchers say these results are comparable to those produced by testing prostate specific antigen (PSA), a common approach to detecting the cancer.

The team is now hoping to conduct further studies to improve the technology so molecules behind the distinct odors can be accurately identified.

The research findings were published in The Journal of Urology.

Source: University of Tampere

Statistical test increases power of genetic studies of complex disease

 

The power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to detect genetic influences on human disease can be substantially increased using a statistical testing framework reported in the May issue of the journal GENETICS.

Despite the proliferation of GWAS, the associations found so far have largely failed to account for the known effects of genes on complex disease -- the problem of "missing heritability." Standard approaches also struggle to find combinations of multiple genes that affect disease risk in complex ways (known as genetic interactions).

The new framework enhances the ability to detect genetic associations and interactions by taking advantage of data from other genomic studies of the same population. Such information is increasingly abundant for many human populations.

The authors demonstrated that their method improves performance over standard approaches. They also re-examined real GWAS data to find promising new candidates for genetic interactions that affect bipolar disorder, coronary artery disease, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

"We think practically everyone who's ever done a case-control GWAS could benefit from reanalyzing their data in this way," said author Saharon Rosset, associate professor of statistics at Tel Aviv University.

"This paper offers a significant advance in mapping genes involved in disease. The approach makes use of available data to substantially improve the ability to identify genetic components of disease," said Mark Johnston, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Genetics

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Genetics Society of America. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Kaufman, S. Rosset. Exploiting Population Samples To Enhance Genome-Wide Association Studies of Disease. Genetics, 2014; DOI: 10.1534/genetics.114.162511

Clinicians may be driving racial disparities in health, review finds

 

May 7, 2014

University of Melbourne

Patients from minority ethnic groups in the U.S. may be facing racist attitudes and beliefs that can unintentionally affect their treatment, a review of healthcare providers has found. The world's first review explored interpersonal racism perpetrated by healthcare providers, a key driver of racial disparities in health. Interpersonal racism refers to racist interactions between individuals, rather than internalized or systemic or institutional racism.

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Patients from minority ethnic groups in the US may be facing racist attitudes and beliefs that can unintentionally affect their treatment, a review of healthcare providers has found.

The world's first review explored interpersonal racism perpetrated by healthcare providers, a key driver of racial disparities in health. Interpersonal racism refers to racist interactions between individuals, rather than internalized or systemic or institutional racism.

Researchers Ms Mandy Truong and Dr Naomi Priest from the University of Melbourne and Professor Yin Paradies from Deakin University, reviewed 37 studies published between 1995 and 2012 of racism among healthcare providers.

The review assessed attitudes towards race held by physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists and social workers, as well as support staff such as nursing aides involved in direct patient care.

Most of the 37 studies included in the review were conducted in the U.S.

"Twenty six of 37 studies published between 1995 and 2012 show evidence of racist beliefs, attitudes and practices amongst healthcare providers," researcher Ms Truong said.

"This review provided evidence that healthcare provider racism exists, and demonstrated a need for more sophisticated approaches to assessing and monitoring it."

Studies included in the review found providers had less positive perceptions about black patients in relation to level of intelligence and compliance with medical advice. It was also found that doctors had an implicit preference for white Americans relative to black Americans.

The findings of this review have substantial relevance to medical and healthcare provision, and highlight an ongoing need to recognise and counter racism among healthcare providers.

"There is an ongoing need for more sophisticated approaches to assessing and monitoring healthcare provider racism. Strategies could include greater education and awareness of the health consequences of racism as well as a more rigourous and sophisticated approach to monitoring racism among healthcare providers," Ms Truong said.

"Concurrently, introducing programs and approaches that dispel false beliefs and counter racial stereotypes as well as promoting intercultural understanding would also be beneficial."

The article was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Melbourne. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Yin Paradies, Mandy Truong, Naomi Priest. A Systematic Review of the Extent and Measurement of Healthcare Provider Racism. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2013; 29 (2): 364 DOI: 10.1007/s11606-013-2583-1

Using DNA to build tool that may literally shine light on cancer

 

 

May 7, 2014

Universite de Montreal

DNA has been used by researchers to develop a tool that detects and reacts to chemical changes caused by cancer cells and that may one day be used to deliver drugs to tumor cells. The researchers' nanosensor measures pH variations at the nanoscale -- how acidic or alkaline it is. Many biomolecules, such as enzymes and proteins, are strongly regulated by small pH changes. These changes affect in turn biological activities such as enzyme catalysis, protein assembly, membrane function and cell death. There is also a strong relation between cancer and pH.

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Andrea Idili, Alexis Vallée-Bélisle and Francesco Ricci have developed a DNA-based nanosensor that allows to measure pH variation at the nanoscale. This nanosensor may significantly aid efforts to build nanodevices for cancer in-vivo imaging and targeted drug-delivery. This nanosensor measures less than 10 nm and unfolds at a specifically programmed pH.

Bioengineers at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the University of Montreal have used DNA to develop a tool that detects and reacts to chemical changes caused by cancer cells and that may one day be used to deliver drugs to tumor cells.

The researchers' nanosensor measures pH variations at the nanoscale -- how acidic (a higher pH level) or alkaline (a lower pH level) it is. Many biomolecules, such as enzymes and proteins, are strongly regulated by small pH changes. These changes affect in turn biological activities such as enzyme catalysis, protein assembly, membrane function and cell death. There is also a strong relation between cancer and pH.

Cancer cells often display a lower pH compared to normal cells: the pH level inside cancer cells is higher than it is outside. "In living organisms, these small pH changes typically occur in tiny areas measuring only few hundred nanometers," says senior author Prof. Francesco Ricci. "Developing sensors or nanomachines that can measure pH changes at this scale should prove of utility for several applications in the fields of in-vivo imaging, clinical diagnostics and drug-delivery."

"DNA represents an ideal material to build sensors or nanomachines at the nanometer scale" says senior author Prof. Vallée-Bélisle. "By taking advantage of a specific DNA sequences that form pH-sensitive triple helix, we have designed a versatile nanosensor that can be programmed to fluoresce only at specific pH values." Fluorescence is the emission of radiation, including visible light, caused by an exchange of energy. "This programming ability represents a key feature for clinical applications -we can design a specific sensor to send a fluorescent signal only when the pH reaches a specific value which is, for example, characteristic of a specific disease," adds first author Andrea Idili.

In the future, this recently patented nanotechnology may also find applications in the development of novel drug-delivery platforms that release chemio-therapeutic drugs only in the viscinity of tumor cells..

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Universite de Montreal. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Andrea Idili et al. Programmable pH triggered DNA nanoswitches. Journal of American Chemical Society, May 2014

Psilocybin inhibits the processing of negative emotions in the brain

 

May 7, 2014

University of Zurich

Emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and joy enable people to adjust to their environment and react flexibly to stress and strain and are vital for cognitive processes, physiological reactions, and social behavior. The processing of emotions is closely linked to structures  in the brain, i.e. to what is known as the limbic system. Within this system the amygdala  plays a central role – above all it processes negative emotions like anxiety and fear. If the activity of the amygdala becomes unbalanced, depression and anxiety disorders may develop.

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Researchers have now shown that psilocybin, the bioactive component in the Mexican magic mushroom, influences the amygdala, thereby weakening the processing of negative stimuli (stock image).

Emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and joy enable people to adjust to their environment and react flexibly to stress and strain and are vital for cognitive processes, physiological reactions, and social behaviour. The processing of emotions is closely linked to structures in the brain, i.e. to what is known as the limbic system. Within this system the amygdala plays a central role -- above all it processes negative emotions like anxiety and fear. If the activity of the amygdala becomes unbalanced, depression and anxiety disorders may develop.

Researchers at the Psychiatric University Hospital of Zurich have now shown that psilocybin, the bioactive component in the Mexican magic mushroom, influences the amygdala, thereby weakening the processing of negative stimuli. These findings could "point the way to novel approaches to treatment" comments the lead author Rainer Krähenmann on the results which have now been published in the medical journal Biological Psychiatry.

Psilocybin inhibits the processing of negative emotions in the amygdala

The processing of emotions can be impaired by various causes and elicit mental disorders. Elevated activity of the amygdala in response to stimuli leads to the neurons strengthening negative signals and weakening the processing of positive ones. This mechanism plays an important role in the development of depression and anxiety disorders. Psilocybin intervenes specifically in this mechanism as shown by Dr. Rainer Krähenmann's research team of the Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging Unit led by Prof. Dr. Franz Vollenweider.

Psilocybin positively influences mood in healthy individuals. In the brain, this substance stimulates specific docking sites for the messenger serotonin. The scientists therefore assumed that psilocybin exerts its mood-brightening effect via a change in the serotonin system in the limbic brain regions. This could, in fact, be demonstrated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). "Even a moderate dose of psilocybin weakens the processing of negative stimuli by modifying amygdala activity in the limbic system as well as in other associated brain regions," continues Krähenmann. The study clearly shows that the modulation of amygdalaactivity is directly linked to the experience of heightened mood.

Next study with depressive patients

According to Krähenmann, this observation is of major clinical importance. Depressive patients in particular react more to negative stimuli and their thoughts often revolve around negative contents. Hence, the neuropharmacologists now wish to elucidate in further studies whether psilocybin normalises the exaggerated processing of negative stimuli as seen in neuroimaging studies of depressedpatients -- and may consequently lead to improved mood in these patients. .

Rainer Krähenmann considers research into novel approaches to treatment very important, because current available drugs for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders are not effective in all patients and are often associated with unwanted side effects.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Zurich. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Rainer Kraehenmann, Katrin H. Preller, Milan Scheidegger, Thomas Pokorny, Oliver G. Bosch, Erich Seifritz, Franz X. Vollenweider. Psilocybin-Induced Decrease in Amygdala Reactivity Correlates with Enhanced Positive Mood in Healthy Volunteers. Biological Psychiatry, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.04.010

Hardy little space travelers could colonize Mars, space station research shows that

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The European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) attached to the Columbus module of the International Space Station during orbital flight.

In the movies, humans often fear invaders from Mars. These days, scientists are more concerned about invaders to Mars, in the form of micro-organisms from Earth. Three recent scientific papers examined the risks of interplanetary exchange of organisms using research from the International Space Station. All three, "Survival of Rock-Colonizing Organisms After 1.5 Years in Outer Space," "Resistance of Bacterial Endospores to Outer Space for Planetary Protection Purposes" and "Survival of Bacillus Pumilus Spores for a Prolonged Period of Time in Real Space Conditions," have appeared in Astrobiology Journal.

Organisms hitching a ride on a spacecraft have the potential to contaminate other celestial bodies, making it difficult for scientists to determine whether a life form existed on another planet or was introduced there by explorers. So it's important to know what types of micro-organisms from Earth can survive on a spacecraft or landing vehicle.

Currently, spacecraft landing on Mars or other planets where life might exist must meet requirements for a maximum allowable level of microbial life, or bioburden. These acceptable levels were based on studies of how various life forms survive exposure to the rigors associated with space travel.

"If you are able to reduce the numbers to acceptable levels, a proxy for cleanliness, the assumption is that the life forms will not survive under harsh space conditions," explains Kasthuri J. Venkateswaran, a researcher with the Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-author on all three papers. That assumption may not hold up, though, as recent research has shown that some microbes are hardier than expected, and others may use various protective mechanisms to survive interplanetary flights.

Spore-forming bacteria are of particular concern because spores can withstand certain sterilization procedures and may best be able to survive the harsh environments of outer space or planetary surfaces. Spores of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 have shown especially high resistance to techniques used to clean spacecraft, such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation and peroxide treatment. When researchers exposed this hardy organism to a simulated Mars environment that kills standard spores in 30 seconds, it survived 30 minutes. For one of the recent experiments, Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 spores were exposed for 18 months on the European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF), a test facility mounted outside the space station.

"After testing exposure to the simulated Mars environment, we wanted to see what would happen in real space, and EuTEF gave us the chance," says Venkateswaran. "To our surprise, some of the spores survived for 18 months." These surviving spores had higher concentrations of proteins associated with UV radiation resistance and, in fact, showed elevated UV resistance when revived and re-exposed on Earth.

The findings also provide insight into how robust microbial communities are able to survive in extremely hostile regions on Earth and how these microbes are affected by radiation.

In another investigation, spores of Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 and another spore-forming bacteria, Bacillus subtilis 168, were dried on pieces of spacecraft-quality aluminum and subjected for 1.5 years to the vacuum of space, cosmic and extraterrestrial solar radiation and temperature fluctuations on EuTEF. These samples also were subjected to a simulated Martian atmosphere using EuTEF. Most of the organisms exposed to solar UV radiation in space and in the Mars spectrum were killed, but when UV rays were filtered out and samples were kept in the dark, about 50 percent or more of those subjected to other space- and Mars-like conditions survived. That makes it likely that spores could survive a trip on a spacecraft to Mars if they are sheltered against solar radiation, perhaps in a tiny pocket of the spacecraft surface or underneath a layer of other spores.

The third study placed rock-colonizing cellular organisms in the EuTEF facility for 1.5 years, further testing a theory of how organisms might move from one planet to another, known as lithopanspermia. In this scenario, rocks ejected from a planet by impact with, say, a meteor, carried organisms on their surface through space and then landed on another planet, bringing that life with them. For this investigation, researchers selected organisms especially adapted to cope with the environmental extremes of their natural habitats on Earth, and found that some are also able to survive in the even more hostile environment of outer space. Lithopanspermia would require thousands or even millions of years, much longer than the experiment's duration, but results provide the first evidence of the hardiness of these organisms in space and suggest the possibility that space-traveling rocks could carry life between planets.

Future exploration missions can use the results of these investigations to help find ways to minimize the risk of contaminating another planet. The findings also will help prevent scientists from incorrectly identifying an organism that hitchhiked on the exploring spacecraft as a native of the planet, when in fact it's an invader. That's a good thing, because no one wants to be responsible for an alien invasion of Mars.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by NASA. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Hubble view: A hungry starburst galaxy

 

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Spiral galaxy Messier 61.

A new Hubble picture is the sharpest ever image of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 61. Taken using the High Resolution Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the central part of the galaxy is shown in striking detail.

Also known as NGC 4303, this galaxy is roughly 100,000 light-years across, comparable in size to our galaxy, the Milky Way. Both Messier 61 and our home galaxy belong to a group of galaxies known as the Virgo Supercluster in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) -- a group of galaxy clusters containing up to 2,000 spiral and elliptical galaxies in total.

Messier 61 is a type of galaxy known as a starburst galaxy. Starburst galaxies experience an incredibly high rate of star formation, hungrily using up their reservoir of gas in a very short period of time (in astronomical terms). But this is not the only activity going on within the galaxy; deep at its heart there is thought to be a supermassive black hole that is violently spewing out radiation.

Despite its inclusion in the Messier Catalogue, Messier 61 was actually discovered by Italian astronomer Barnabus Oriani in 1779. Charles Messier also noticed this galaxy on the very same day as Oriani, but mistook it for a passing comet -- the comet of 1779.

New knowledge about muscular dystrophy uncovered

 

May 5, 2014

Aarhus University

A previously unknown function of a cellular enzyme that can disperse toxic aggregates in the cells of patients with muscular dystrophy has been uncovered by researchers. The most common form of muscular dystrophy among adults is dystrophia myotonica type 1 (DM1), where approximately 1 in every 8000 is affected by the disease. The severity of the disease varies from mild forms to severe congenital forms. It is dominantly inherited and accumulates through generations, gaining increased severity and lowered age of onset.

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The research team behind the new results of muscular dystrophy (from left): Thomas G. Jensen, Rune Thomsen, Olof Pettersson, Lars Aagaard og Christian Damgaard (Diana Andrejeva is missing in the photo).

The most common form of muscular dystrophy among adults is dystrophia myotonica type 1 (DM1), where approximately 1 in every 8000 is affected by the disease. The severity of the disease varies from mild forms to severe congenital forms. It is dominantly inherited and accumulates through generations, gaining increased severity and lowered age of onset. DM1 is characterized by accumulating toxic aggregates of ribonucleic acids (RNA) from a specific mutated gene.

When this RNA, which contains thousands of CUG nucleotide repeats, builds up in the cell, it attracts several cellular proteins, including muscleblind 1 (MBNL1). This binding inhibits the normal function of MBNL1, which means that the cellular level of a number of specific proteins becomes deregulated and the disease develops.

Enzyme characterization in muscular dystrophy patients

The researchers work at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and the Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, where they characterized an enzyme called DDX6, found in both normal cells and cells from muscular dystrophy patients.

The enzyme constantly tries to disperse the toxic aggregates and release MBNL1 in cells from muscular dystrophy patients, which means that the protein can carry out its normal function. The enzyme is found in many different cell types, where it performs a number of vital functions. The researchers showed that an artificial increase in the level of DDX6 in muscular dystrophy cells reduces the number of RNA aggregates, while more are formed when DDX6 is removed from the cells.

DDX6 belongs to a class of enzymes called helicases, which can change RNA structure and also regulate the ability of proteins to bind RNA. By purifying DDX6 from human cells, the researchers succeeded in getting the enzyme to bind and carry out an enzymatic reaction outside the cell, thus changing the structure of the toxic RNA.

These results indicate that DDX6 has a direct impact on toxic RNA aggregation in cells from muscular dystrophy patients in addition to its normal functions.

It remains unlikely that DDX6 can be used directly in the treatment of muscular dystrophy, since the enzyme carries out a number of important processes in the cell, which could potentially become deregulated leading to other diseases. However, the results provide important insights into the basic mechanisms of the disease, and natural differences in enzyme levels in different types of cells (or individuals) could possibly explain observed tissue-specific differences in the development of the disease.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Aarhus University. The original article was written by Lisbeth Heilesen. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. O. J. Pettersson, L. Aagaard, D. Andrejeva, R. Thomsen, T. G. Jensen, C. K. Damgaard. DDX6 regulates sequestered nuclear CUG-expanded DMPK-mRNA in dystrophia myotonica type 1. Nucleic Acids Research, 2014; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gku352

Animal hoarding: Lesser-known problem for public health, welfare

 

May 5, 2014

IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute)

Animal hoarding is a psychiatric disorder that consists of accumulating large numbers of animals at home, usually cats and dogs, without providing them with a minimal standard of care. The first European study to provide data on this disorder has been published, outlining the disorder's largely unknown and negative effects on the health of both the people who suffer from it and the animals involved.

 

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Animal hoarding is a psychiatric disorder that consists of accumulating large numbers of animals at home, usually cats and dogs, without providing them with a minimal standard of care. Researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute) publish the first European study to provide data on this disorder, in the Journal Animal Welfare. The disorder is still largely unknown and has a negative effect on the health of both the people who suffer from it and the animals involved.

"This is the first step towards public recognition of this disorder, a disorder that constitutes a growing concern for government as it is becoming a serious problem for public health. There are still no standardized action protocols for intervention in these cases" states Paula Calvo, a researcher of the IMIM research group on anxiety, affective disorders and schizophrenia and of the "Cátedra Fundación Affinity Animales y Salud" (Affinity Foundation Chair for Animals and Health) of the Department of Psychiatry of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Currently, when a case is detected, the animals are removed but no attention is given to the person suffering the disorder. This person does not realise that his or her animals are in poor health and soon begins to hoard them again. Sometimes these animals are found at obvious and critical levels of malnutrition, dehydration and parasitic infestation, with illnesses or uncontrolled breeding, all in a very unhygienic space.

The researchers believe that this disorder has implications for mental health, animal welfare and public health and therefore that recognizing its presence in our society is the first step in identifying and detecting cases early and dealing with them in the most efficient possible way. As different sectors must mobilize when a case appears, such as animal protection, public health, public welfare, etc, the group works in conjunction with government, creating multidisciplinary action protocols.

This is the first study to provide data on this syndrome in Europe and it has been possible thanks to the relationships of the researchers with organizations dedicated to the protection of animals. This put them in contact with various cases of the disorder and aroused their interest in the issue. Seeing that there was a vacuum in Europe they decided to contact the National Association of Friends of Animals (ANAA) and to retrospectively analyze the cases that they had collected in their database between 2002 and 2011. They created a questionnaire for the experts who had participated in these cases and all the information that the organization had available was classified and standardized.

Until now all existing research on the issue has been carried out in the US, Canada and Australia, but with this study it has been demonstrated for the first time that this mental disorder also occurs in Europe and with similar characteristics. For the time being the data is not sufficient to know the percentage of the population which suffers from the disorder, nor to better understand the profile of those who hoard.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute). Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. P Calvo, C Duarte, J Bowen, A Bulbena, J Fatj. Characteristics of 24 cases of animal hoarding in Spain. Animal Welfare, 2014; 23 (2): 199 DOI: 10.7120/09627286.23.2.199