Publications by authors named "V Albert"
Background: Public health is seriously threatened by transmission of zoonotic infection through the food chain. Factors like increasing population, deforestation, high demand for animal protein, and trade of sub-clinically infected animals are the main causes of the spread of infections from asymptomatic animals to humans. Despite several national programs like (The Clean India Mission) prevention of open defecation and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases remains high in India.
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- - Food safety is a serious global issue, especially in India’s North-East region, where fermented foods have led to numerous diarrheal outbreaks, but there is a lack of systematic data on foodborne pathogens.
- - The research aims to create an integrated surveillance system to monitor enteric pathogens in humans, food animals, and the environment, improving outbreak investigations in North-East India.
- - The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is leading a study to gather data through laboratory surveillance at various locations, utilizing a centralized digital database for better management and analysis of foodborne diseases.
Article Synopsis
- Food and waterborne illnesses are a major public health concern in India, often linked to large gatherings and poor food handling practices, as seen in an acute diarrheal disease outbreak at a birthday party in rural Assam.
- The investigation involved collecting demographic data, illness details, rectal swabs, and water samples, revealing that 25 people were affected, with Shigella sonnei identified as the pathogen responsible for the outbreak.
- The study highlighted a significant association between illness and the consumption of chicken curry, indicating a high attack rate and resistance of the pathogen to several antibiotics, while the water quality was deemed safe.
Over the past 15 years, the D-statistic, a four-taxon test for organismal admixture (hybridization, or introgression) which incorporates single nucleotide polymorphism data with allelic patterns ABBA and BABA, has seen considerable use. This statistic seeks to discern significant deviation from either a given species tree assumption, or from the balanced incomplete lineage sorting that could otherwise defy this species tree. However, while the D-statistic can successfully discriminate admixture from incomplete lineage sorting, it is not a simple matter to determine the directionality of admixture using only four-leaf tree models.
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