Coping with stress: Salt type, concentration, and exposure history limit life history tradeoffs in response to road salt salinization.

Substantial increases in the salinity of freshwater ecosystems has occurred around the globe from causes such as climate change, industrial operations, and the application of road deicing salts. We know very little about how plastic responses in life history traits or rapid evolution of new traits among freshwater organisms could promote stability in ecological communities affected by salinization. We performed a cohort life history analysis from birth to death with 180 individuals of a ubiquitous freshwater zooplankter to understand how life history traits are affected by exposure to two common salt types causing salinization-sodium chloride (NaCl) and calcium chloride (CaCl)-across two environmentally relevant concentrations.

Freshwater salinization reduces vertical movement rate and abundance of Daphnia: Interactions with predatory stress.

Contaminants in human-dominated landscapes are changing ecological interactions. The global increase in freshwater salinity is likely to change predator-prey interactions due to the potential interactive effects between predatory stress and salt stress. We conducted two experiments to assess the interactions between the non-consumptive effects of predation and elevated salinity on the abundance and vertical movement rate of a common lake zooplankton species (Daphnia mendotae).

An Overview of Foodborne Sample-Initiated Retrospective Outbreak Investigations and Interagency Collaboration in the United States.

Foodborne outbreak investigations have traditionally included the detection of a cluster of illnesses first, followed by an epidemiologic investigation to identify a food of interest. The increasing use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) subtyping technology for clinical, environmental, and food isolates of foodborne pathogens, and the ability to share and compare the data on public platforms, present new opportunities to identify earlier links between illnesses and their potential sources. We describe a process called sample-initiated retrospective outbreak investigations (SIROIs) used by federal public health and regulatory partners in the United States.

Impacts of water hardness and road deicing salt on zooplankton survival and reproduction.

Rising salinity from road deicing salts threatens the survival and reproduction of freshwater organisms. We conducted two experiments to address how Daphnia pulex survival and reproduction were affected by road salt concentration (control, 120, 640 and 1200 mg Cl/L) crossed with three concentrations of water hardness (20, 97, 185 mg CaCO /L). D.

A 2019 Outbreak Investigation of Hepatitis A Virus Infections in the United States Linked to Imported Fresh Blackberries.

Globally, hepatitis A virus (HAV) is one of the most common agents of acute viral hepatitis and causes approximately 1.4 million cases and 90,000 deaths annually despite the existence of an effective vaccine. In 2019, federal, state, and local partners investigated a multi-state outbreak of HAV infections linked to fresh blackberries sourced from multiple suppliers in Michoacán, Mexico.

Use of Whole Genome Sequencing by the Federal Interagency Collaboration for Genomics for Food and Feed Safety in the United States.

Abstract: This multiagency report developed by the Interagency Collaboration for Genomics for Food and Feed Safety provides an overview of the use of and transition to whole genome sequencing (WGS) technology for detection and characterization of pathogens transmitted commonly by food and for identification of their sources. We describe foodborne pathogen analysis, investigation, and harmonization efforts among the following federal agencies: National Institutes of Health; Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S.

Whole genome sequencing uses for foodborne contamination and compliance: Discovery of an emerging contamination event in an ice cream facility using whole genome sequencing.

We review how FDA surveillance identifies several ways that whole genome sequencing (WGS) improves actionable outcomes for public health and compliance in a case involving Listeria monocytogenes contamination in an ice cream facility. In late August 2017 FDA conducted environmental sampling inside an ice cream facility. These isolates were sequenced and deposited into the GenomeTrakr databases.