Participatory approach to quality development in infection prevention and control (IPC) in Nigerian health facilities.

The development of an educational concept of a training programme for infection prevention and control (IPC) was seen as a key issue to successfully address the complexity of change processes of professional IPC routines in clinical procedures. Therefore, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria, and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany established an interdisciplinary project framework, involving knowledge and competences from different disciplines and professions like health professionals, epidemiologists and educators (MAURICE project). A multi-module training programme for health care workers to improve IPC standards was developed and implemented based on the participatory approach and a systemic view for organizational change.

Experimental outgassing of toxic chemicals to simulate the characteristics of hazards tainting globally shipped products.

Ambient monitoring analyses may identify potential new public health hazards such as residual levels of fumigants and industrial chemicals off gassing from products and goods shipped globally. We analyzed container air with gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (TD-2D-GC-MS/FPD) and assessed whether the concentration of the volatiles benzene and 1,2-dichloroethane exceeded recommended exposure limits (REL). Products were taken from transport containers and analyzed for outgassing of volatiles.

Temporal and spatial analysis of the 2014-2015 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.

West Africa is currently witnessing the most extensive Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak so far recorded. Until now, there have been 27,013 reported cases and 11,134 deaths. The origin of the virus is thought to have been a zoonotic transmission from a bat to a two-year-old boy in December 2013 (ref.

Accidental exposure to gas emissions from transit goods treated for pest control.

Background: International phytosanitary standards ISPM 15 require (since 2007) fumigation or heat treatment for shipping and storage. Those dealing with fumigated freight might be accidentally exposed. In this paper we report a series of three accidents of six storage room workers in a medium sized company regularly importing electronic production parts from abroad.

Circulating mitochondrial DNA as biomarker linking environmental chemical exposure to early preclinical lesions elevation of mtDNA in human serum after exposure to carcinogenic halo-alkane-based pesticides.

There is a need for a panel of suitable biomarkers for detection of environmental chemical exposure leading to the initiation or progression of degenerative diseases or potentially, to cancer. As the peripheral blood may contain increased levels of circulating cell-free DNA in diseased individuals, we aimed to evaluate this DNA as effect biomarker recognizing vulnerability after exposure to environmental chemicals. We recruited 164 individuals presumably exposed to halo-alkane-based pesticides.

Prostate cancer and toxicity from critical use exemptions of methyl bromide: environmental protection helps protect against human health risks.

Background: Although ozone-depleting methyl bromide was destined for phase-out by 2005, it is still widely applied as a consequence of various critical-use-exemptions and mandatory international regulations aiming to restrict the spread of pests and alien species (e.g. in globalized transport and storage).

Halogenated hydrocarbon pesticides and other volatile organic contaminants provide analytical challenges in global trading.

Protection against infestation of a container cargo by alien species is achieved by mandatory fumigation with pesticides. Most of the effective fumigants are methyl and ethyl halide gases that are highly toxic and are a risk to both human health and the environment. There is a worldwide need for a reliable and robust analytical screening procedure for these volatile chemicals in a multitude of health and environmental scenarios.