Environmental change,development and vectorborne disease: Malaysia’s experience with filariasis,scrub typhus and dengue

During Malaysia’s rapid economic development into becoming a middle income country in the past several decades, environmental changes resulted in altered land use patterns because of agricultural practices such as large scale rice, rubber and oil palm cultivation. The impact of environmental changes brought about by rice and rubber cultivation affected the breeding habitats of mosquito vectors which in turn affected the prevalence of two strains of lymphatic filariasis in different ways. With scrub typhus, the development of oil palm plantations affected the ecology of mite and rodent populations which resulted in very high incidence of the disease in affected populations. Malaysia’s relentless urbanization has resulted in increased incidence of dengue, as peridomestic mosquito vectors increasingly colonize urban habitats. This article discusses how ecological factors determine the way lymphatic filariasis, scrub typhus and dengue were spread in Malaysia. The nation’s experience with environmental changes due to rapid development provides lessons for other developing countries in control programs and public health policy.     

Distribution of mercury in di erent environmental compartments in the aquatic ecosystem of the coastal zone of the Southern Baltic Sea

The aim of this study was to characterize mercury (Hg) contamination in the coastal waters of the Southern Baltic Sea, and to investigate transformations of Hg in the initial links of the marine food chain. Concentrations of Hg in water, particulate matter, plankton and macrophytes at various stations in the coastal zone (a bay with restricted water exchange, near an industrial city, river mouths, and the open sea) were measured in 2006–2008. Hg concentrations observed in the Southern Baltic varied greatly, showing the highest average values in all environmental compartments near the river mouths. In shallow, sheltered parts of the gulf, where water exchange is restricted, Hg concentrations in the water and in macrophytes were elevated relative to those in the coastal zone of the deeper part of the bay and in the open Baltic. Distance to the river mouth, terrestrial runo , and quantity and quality of organic matter were more important than seasonal variations in controlling Hg and HgSPM concentrations in water samples. Mercury concentrations in the surface microlayer at the air/sea interface were over 10 times higher than those in the bulk surface water. Concentrations of Hg in macrophytes in the winter were significantly higher than those in the warm seasons (spring, summer, autumn). This was probably the combined e ect of higher availability of Hg in porewaters and leaf growth inhibition.