North Carolina State University News Services
CB 7504
Raleigh, NC 27695
[email protected]
http://www.ncsu.edu/news
Media Contacts: Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, 919/515-2627 or 919/515-3421
Tim Lucas, News Services, 919/515-3470 or [email protected]
September 3, 1999
Burkholder Co-authors Science Article on Emerging Marine Diseases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, professor of aquatic ecology and marine science at North Carolina State University, has co-authored a peer-reviewed scientific article on emerging marine diseases, published Friday, Sept. 3, in the journal Science.
The article, "Emerging Marine Disease -- Climate Links and Anthropogenic Factors," examines the recent rise of mass mortalities in ocean-dwelling plants and animals due to disease outbreaks. Burkholder, an internationally recognized expert on the toxic aquatic organism Pfiesteria piscicida, was one of 14 leading scientists invited to contribute to the paper.
"The increase in fish kills and other disease outbreaks affecting marine organisms around the world has raised grave concerns about the health of our oceans," Burkholder says. "In this paper, we look at some of the factors -- pollution, human activities, El Nino and global warming -- that may have contributed to this rise."
The paper is more of an overview of known science than a presentation of new findings, she says. "The idea was to combine 14 different sets of findings and 14 different scientific perspectives into one comprehensive review of emerging marine diseases. It allows you to see the big picture much more clearly than if our individual findings were reviewed in isolation."
In addition to charting the emergence of new diseases and disease outbreaks affecting plants and animals in the world's oceans, the paper also examines the oceans' link to human health, particular their role as incubators and conveyors of human disease agents.
"With more than one-third of the world's population now living near a coast this link increasingly is a cause for concern, as we are learning from studies of cholera epidemics in Bangladesh as well as studies on Pfiesteria and other harmful organisms in waters closer to home," Burkholder says.
Persuasive as the evidence presented in the paper is, its authors argue that more research is needed before they can reach definitive conclusions about the causes and effects of emerging marine diseases. Despite decades of intense study, "the ecological and evolutionary impact of diseases in the ocean remains unknown, even when these disease affect economically and ecologically important species," they write in the paper's introductory paragraphs. "The paucity of baseline and epidemiological information on normal disease levels in the ocean challenges our ability to assess the...recent spate of disease outbreaks." Although the frequency of reports about new diseases or new outbreaks among previously unexposed species is compelling, the paper suggests that "whether they are indeed 'new' or are simply artifacts of improved detection requires further evaluation."
Burkholder has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including more than 25 on Pfiesteria and related species. She has presented expert testimony about toxic marine organisms and the impact of pollution on estuaries four times at special hearings of the U.S. Congress. She has been the recipient of numerous honors for her research and public education, including a 1998 National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federations; the 1998 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a 1997 Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment.
-- lucas --
NOTE TO EDITORS: An abstract of the Science article co-authored by Dr. JoAnn Burkholder follows.
"Emerging Marine Diseases -- Climate Links and Anthropogenic Factors" Published Sept. 3, 1999 in Science by C. Drew Harvell, K. Kim, J.M. Burkholder, R.R. Colwell, P.R. Epstein, J. Grimes, E.E. Hofmann, E. Lipp, A.D.M.E. Osterhaus, R. Overstreet, J.W. Porter, G.W. Smith, G.R. Vasta
ABSTRACT: Mass mortalities due to disease outbreaks have recently affected major taxa in the oceans. For closely monitored groups like corals and marine mammals, reports of the frequency of epidemics and the number of new diseases have increased recently. A dramatic global increase in the severity of coral bleaching in 1997-98 is coincident with high El Nino temperatures. Such climate-mediated physiological stresses may compromise host resistance and increase frequency of opportunistic diseases. Where documented, new diseases typically have emerged through host or range shifts of known pathogens. both climate and human activities may have also accelerated global transport of species, bringing together pathogens and previously unexposed host populations.
# # #
RSS