An overview of soil and plant assessment for predicting site quality and recovery strategies of one the largest tailings dam failures worldwide.

Brazil's Fundão dam collapse is one of the world's largest disasters of tailing dam failures. Previous research has evaluated toxic metals and non-metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, As, Hg) in the same soil samples used in this study, and results have indicated that only Fe and Mn concentrations increased above the original baseline (Melo et al., 2023).

Dynamics of Fe, Mn, and potentially harmful elements under reducing conditions in iron ore tailings after dam collapse in the Doce River basin-Brazil: flooded and non-flooded rice cultivations.

Potentially harmful element (PHE) bioavailability is important to environmental contamination and must be checked under several soil conditions. This study aimed to assess Fe, Mn, and PHE uptake by rice (Oryza sativa) grown on flooded and non-flooded Fe tailings collected from the Doce River basin after its collapse in Brazil. After 65 days of sowing, shoots and roots were harvested to determine PHE concentrations.

Pertussis outbreak in neonates and young infants across Italy, January to May 2024: implications for vaccination strategies.

Since January 2024, Italy experiences a pertussis outbreak, primarily affecting neonates and unvaccinated infants at high risk of severe complications and mortality; 11 major paediatric centres noted 108 hospitalisations and three deaths by 10 May. The outbreak reflects increased circulation of and non-adherence to immunisation recommendations during pregnancy. Public health interventions, including maternal immunisation, vaccination of infants as early as possible and post-exposure prophylaxis, are critical for reducing the burden of pertussis and preventing further mortality.

Integrated environmental assessment of iron ore tailings in floodplain soils and plants after the Fundão Dam disaster in Brazil.

Previous studies of the Doce River basin (Brazil) seem to be contradictory regarding the contamination of soils with potentially harmful elements (PHE). This research aimed to perform an integrated assessment of PHE in the soil-plant-tailing system from the area most affected by the iron waste after the Fundão Dam disaster in 2015. Different fractions of PHE (exchangeable, nonexchangeable, reducible, and pseudo-total) were determined on deposited iron waste (DIW), soil waste mixture (SWM), and control soil (CS) samples.