All Posts

Wastewater surveillance researchers identify tools to estimate how many people are represented in a sample

For their study, the investigators, who are also members of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, evaluated population normalization factors, which are used to determine the relative human fecal contribution in a sample. With this information, scientists can control for fluctuations in the population contributing to a wastewater sample throughout time while quantifying the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations.

What’s below the surface

For this core group of PHHP researchers, who are also members of UF’s Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, Water Institute and Emerging Pathogens Institute, there is an urgent need to identify emerging contaminants in Florida’s waters, assess their impact and use that data to inform local, state and federal agencies.

Exploring the Mosquito-Arbovirus Network: A Survey of Vector Competence Experiments

Arthropod-borne (arbo-) viruses face evolutionary pressures that favor generalism in the range of both vertebrate hosts and arthropod vectors that they can use. That flexibility can pose a particular problem for public health, as it both enables their spread into new locations and ecosystems and adds a layer of unpredictability to their dynamics upon arrival.

Therapeutic drug monitoring in cystic fibrosis and associations with pulmonary exacerbations and lung function

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapy have resulted in longer life expectancies, yet pulmonary exacerbations remain a leading cause of morbidity. Intravenous antibiotics is the mainstay treatment, however achieving adequate concentrations remains challenging. The effect of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of beta-lactams on exacerbations and lung function has not been studied.

Analyzing Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Designated Malaria Risk Areas in Nepal from 2018 to 2021

Malaria was a major public health issue in Nepal for much of the 20th century (Newby, 2015), but cases declined significantly in the past two decades, in response to concerted intervention efforts, as part of a push to elimination. Between 2010 and 2020, indigenous malaria declined by about 98% with only 73 cases reported in Nepal in 2020 (EDCD, 2021), and Nepal is preparing for malaria elimination by 2026.