Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
© 2008 Author et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
The definitive version was published in Environmental Health 7 (2008): S3, doi:10.1186/1476-069X-7-S2-S3.
Description:
Innovative research relating oceans and human health is advancing our understanding of disease-causing organisms in coastal ecosystems. Novel techniques are elucidating the loading, transport and fate of pathogens in coastal ecosystems, and identifying sources of contamination. This research is facilitating improved risk assessments for seafood consumers and those who use the oceans for recreation. A number of challenges still remain and define future directions of research and public policy. Sample processing and molecular detection techniques need to be advanced to allow rapid and specific identification of microbes of public health concern from complex environmental samples. Water quality standards need to be updated to more accurately reflect health risks and to provide managers with improved tools for decision-making. Greater discrimination of virulent versus harmless microbes is needed to identify environmental reservoirs of pathogens and factors leading to human infections. Investigations must include examination of microbial community dynamics that may be important from a human health perspective. Further research is needed to evaluate the ecology of non-enteric water-transmitted diseases. Sentinels should also be established and monitored, providing early warning of dangers to ecosystem health. Taken together, this effort will provide more reliable information about public health risks associated with beaches and seafood consumption, and how human activities can affect their exposure to disease-causing organisms from the oceans.
Description:
The Oceans and Human Health Initiative research described within this
paper is supported by the National Science Foundation, The National Institute
for Environmental Health Sciences and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. Grant numbers are: NIEHS P50 ES012742 and NSF OCE-
043072 (RJG, LAA-Z, MFP), NSF OCE04-32479 and NIEHS P50 ES012740
(RSF), NSF OCE-0432368 and NIEHS P50 ES12736 (HMS-G), NIEHS P50
ES012762 and NSF OCE-0434087 (JSM).
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
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