Pathogenic Leptospira and water quality in African cities: A case study of Cotonou, Benin.

Leptospirosis is a waterborne zoonosis (60,000 infections and 1 million deaths annually). Knowledge about the disease in the urban context is surprisingly rare, especially in Africa. Here, we provide the first study of leptospires in waters within an African city.

The individual response of saline lakes to a severe drought.

A severe protracted drought between 1997 and 2009 has altered the physical and chemical hydrology of a series of lakes in the Corangamite Basin of southeast Australia. Leading up to the drying out of most lakes (many for the first time on record), we document the changes in lakes' water quantity (water levels and inundation), salinity (Cl concentrations), salinity processes (Cl/Br ratios), nutrient concentrations and ratios (ammonia, phosphate and NOx (nitrate and nitrite)) and algae (as chlorophyll-a) for six lakes. All lakes show record declines in inundated areas and increases in salinity from pre-drought (<1997) to drought conditions.