Ariful Islam

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Verified

Ariful verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• DVM; MS; MPH; PhD in Epidemiology
• Research Fellow in Epidemiology and Surveillance at Charles Sturt University

https://www.astmh.org/getmedia/cc92e7ad-8e49-4eb0-83ec-a29e5bba5dc5/ASTMH-2024-Annual-Meeting-Abstract-Book-All-Abstracts.pdf

High pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) virus H5N1 first emerged in Bangladesh in 2007. Despite the use of vaccines in chickens since 2012 to control HPAI, HPAI H5Nx viruses have continued to infect poultry and wild birds, resulting in notable mass mortalities in house crows (Corvus splendens). The first HPAI H5Nx viruses in Bangladesh belonged t...

Avian influenza virus (AIV) is of major concern to livestock, wildlife, and human health. In many countries in the world, including Bangladesh, AIV is endemic in poultry, requiring improving biosecurity. In Bangladesh, we investigated how variation in biosecurity practices in commercial chicken farms affected their AIV infection status to help guid...

Shigella stands as a major contributor to bacterial dysentery worldwide scale, particularly in developing countries with inadequate sanitation and hygiene. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains exacerbates the challenge of treating Shigella infections, particularly in regions where access to healthcare and alternative antibiotics is limited....

High pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks pose a significant threat to the health of livestock, wildlife, and humans. Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are enzootic in poultry in many countries, including Bangladesh, necessitating improved farm biosecurity measures. However, the comprehension of biosecurity and hygiene practices, as wel...

Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are significant transboundary zoonotic pathogens that concern both animal and human. Since the first report of H5N1 AIV in Bangladesh in early 2007, it resulted in numerous outbreaks across the country, hindering the sustainable growth of the poultry industry through economic losses in different production systems (co...

The Middle East respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is one of the seven known human coronaviruses and belongs to the β-CoV lineage C o MERS is caused by MERS-CoV, first reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. All of the index cases of the disease were reported in the Middle East region, mostly associated directly or indirectly with dromedary came...

High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks continue to wreak havoc on the global poultry industry and threaten the health of wild bird populations, with sporadic spillover in humans and other mammals, resulting in widespread calls to vaccinate poultry. Bangladesh has been vaccinating poultry since 2012, presenting a prime opportunity...

Understanding the bat roosting and feeding ecology in rapidly changing landscape like Bangladesh is critical to design effective interventions of Nipah virus (NiV) spillover to humans. Hence, this study aimed to determine how land use change drives bat roosting ecology and human-bat food competition on cultivated food resources promotes viral trans...

Nipah virus is endemic to Bangladesh, and human infections have been reported almost every year since 2001. Till March 2023, Bangladesh experienced ten outbreaks of Nipah virus infection. Team of experts led by the Institue of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) conducted the outbreak investigations with support from icddr,b, and Eco...

Anthropological approaches play a pivotal role in outbreak investigation by bringing forth sensitive, tabooed, or stigmatized practices, behaviors, and contexts interconnected with the disease paradigm. Unanticipated situations such as the spread of rumors, public panic, uncontrolled prevalence of obscure and misinterpreted information in the commu...

Live bird markets (LBMs) are critical for poultry trade in many developing countries that are regarded as hotspots for the prevalence and contamination of avian influenza viruses (AIV). Therefore, we conducted weekly longitudinal environmental surveillance in LBMs to determine annual cyclic patterns of AIV subtypes, environmental risk zones, and th...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 endangers poultry, wildlife, and human health and is enzootic in large parts of Asia, with live bird markets (LBMs) as putative hotspots for their maintenance, amplification, and spread. To mitigate the extent of these and other avian influenza viruses (AIV) of concern, we aimed to increase our q...

Objectives: West Nile virus is a zoonotic arbovirus spread by mosquito vectors for which birds are common reservoir hosts. In this report, we are presenting the prevalence of West Nile virus antibodies among the resident and migratory wild birds from different locations in Bangladesh. Methods: Birds were captured using mist nets and leg nooses fro...

Abstract: Background: Nipah virus is a pandemic potential viral disease. On 13 January, a confirmed case of Nipah Virus Disease (NiV) was reported through Nipah Enhanced Surveillance. We investigated to determine the scope and magnitude of the outbreak and the source of infection, also to explore the contributing perception, cultural patterns to co...

Ecologists are increasingly interested in the deterministic factors that influence microbial communities. Yet in comparison to other microbes, our understanding of viral community ecology is limited. Here we investigated the factors influencing the community ecology of picobirnaviruses among wild rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in Bangladesh. Usin...

Intro: Irrational and imprudent antimicrobial usage (AMU) in poultry is considered a key driver of antimicrobial residue (AR) development and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has become a significant health hazard in animals and humans. The extensive use of antimicrobials in the intensified commercial chicken industries, supplying the major an...

Understanding disease clustering and transmission patterns improves the prevention and control of disease. Herein, we described the epizootic characteristics and spatiotemporal dynamics of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreaks as well as clade diversity and phylodynamics of H5N1 over time and across host species in Bangladesh. We...

Waterfowl are considered to be natural reservoirs of the avian influenza virus (AIV). However, the dynamics of transmission and evolutionary patterns of AIV and its subtypes within duck farms in Bangladesh remain poorly documented. Hence, a cross-sectional study was conducted in nine districts of Bangladesh between 2019 and 2021, to determine the p...

The impacts of the avian influenza virus (AIV) on farmed poultry and wild birds affect human health, livelihoods, food security, and international trade. The movement patterns of turkey birds from farms to live bird markets (LBMs) and infection of AIV are poorly understood in Bangladesh. Thus, we conducted weekly longitudinal surveillance in LBMs t...

Introduction: The ascent of antibiotic resistance is an emerging public health concern, propelled by an array of factors, including widespread use of antibiotics in livestock production. The reported overuse of antibiotics in poultry farming is leading to concerns about the potential for antibiotic resistance to emerge in humans. Hence, we conducte...

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of influenza A virus (IAV) is crucial for identifying diverse subtypes and newly evolved variants and for selecting vaccine strains. In developing countries, where facilities are often inadequate, WGS is challenging to perform using conventional next-generation sequencers. In this study, we established a culture-indepe...

Avian influenza virus (AIV) remains a global threat, with waterfowl serving as the primary reservoir from which viruses spread to other hosts. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 viruses continue to be a devastating threat to the poultry industry and an incipient threat to humans. A cross-sectional study was conducted in seven districts of...

Intro We investigated two poultry mortality events in northwest Bangladesh, one in backyard poultry in Pabna in March 2017 and another in a commercial layer farm in Mymensingh in January 2018, to determine and molecularly characterize the etiological agent and to assess putative risk factors of disease outbreaks in both areas. Methods We collected...

Intro In January 2017, a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak was reported at a chicken farm in Dhamrai, Bangladesh. Subsequently, we investigated outbreak settings to determine the extent of the outbreak and whether HPAI has been circulating in the live bird market (LBM) and among wild birds and to identify possible associated ri...

Intro Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have been frequently detected in live bird markets (LBMs), primarily in urban areas LBMs are potential sources of AIV, especially for spillover to other species, including humans. We aimed to investigate the diversity, prevalence, and associated risk factors of circulating AIVs in peri-urban and rural markets in...

Intro Poultry, like Pigeons and quail farming, is a growing sector in Bangladesh. However, the role of pet birds in Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) transmission is not fully understood. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of AIV subtypes in pigeons and quails at LBMs. Methods We collected oropharyngeal and cloacal sw...

Intro Rift valley fever (RVF) and Q fever are vector-borne zoonotic diseases affecting both humans and many animal species, and are responsible for a high rate of abortion in infected domestic ruminants. Although animals are the main source of RVF and Q fever outbreaks in humans globally, the disease remains underestimated in Bangladesh. In order t...

The Middle East respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is one of the human coronaviruses that causes severe respiratory infection. Bats are considered to be the natural reservoir, where dromedary camels (DC) are the intermediate hosts of the virus. The current study was undertaken to provide an update on global distribution of the virus in cam...

Background: The avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H9N2 is endemic in domestic poultry in most Asian countries and occasionally spillover to humans. On the report of a suspected human A/H9 outbreak, a multidisciplinary team investigated to find out the source of infection and extent of the outbreak in a rural village between February 2-4, 2017. M...

Avian influenza viruses (AIV) have been frequently detected in live bird markets (LBMs) around the world, primarily in urban areas, and have the ability to spillover to other species, including humans. Despite frequent detection of AIV in urban LBMs, the contamination of AIV on environmental surfaces in rural and peri-urban LBMs in Bangladesh is po...

Monkeypox (Mpox) was mostly limited to Central and Western Africa, but recently it has been reported globally. The current review presents an update on the virus, including ecology and evolution, possible drivers of transmission, clinical features and management, knowledge gaps, and research priorities to reduce the disease transmission. The origin...

This study aimed to estimate the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns and tetracycline-resistant gene profiles of Escherichia coli (E. coli) from broiler meat and livers sourced from live bird markets (LBMs) and supermarkets (SMs) in Chattogram, Bangladesh. In total, 405 samples were collected from SMs and LBMs, comprising muscle (n = 215) and l...

Introduction Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat for humans and animals. Environmental contamination of antimicrobials from human and domestic animal feces has been linked to AMR in wildlife populations, including rhesus macaques. This study aimed to describe the eco-epidemiology of AMR within Salmonella and Staphylococ...

Key Findings From the Living Safely With Bats book’s inception to distribution, the content development team engaged and collaborated with multilevel stakeholders from multiple countries on the diverse cultural contexts and local knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding zoonotic diseases. The book development process provided insights on how...

Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, vector-borne viral disease of animals having a substantial economic impact and it is endemic in the bordering states of the Indian subcontinent. Livestock enters frequently from India into Bangladesh without any screening. Hence, this study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of Bluetongue virus (BTV) and associat...

Wildlife markets are hotspots for illegal wildlife trade, with traders operating as a result of weak monitoring and law enforcement. Knowledge of species traded, sources, and routes used for transport is needed to identify illegal wildlife trade markets and intervene to stem trade. We conducted surveys in 13 wildlife markets across Bangladesh every...

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or multidrug resistance (MDR) is an “invisible pandemic”. In Bangladesh, Escherichia coli (E. coli) is poultry’s most common pathogen, and antimicrobials are used indiscriminately either as growth promoters or as treatment, which increases the possibility of the emergence of AMR....

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose: Bangladesh has been experiencing a nearly annual Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak through drinking contaminated raw or fermented date palm sap (RDPS) with bat excreta since 2001. RDPS harvesting practices and trading patterns have not been explored extensively. Hence, we conducted a study to understand RDPS collect...

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose: Coronavirus (CoV) has caused three epidemics and pandemics in past decades, resulting in a substantial impact on human and animal health and the global economy. This study aimed to screen pre-pandemic human samples to detect and molecularly characterize known and novel coronaviruses in humans at high-risk ani...

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose: Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease, one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions, including Bangladesh, in the last few decades. Understanding the spread and virulence patterns of the dengue virus (DENV) and identifying strains responsible for epidemic outbreaks...

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose: Rodents and shrews live in close proximity to humans and have been identified as critical hosts of zoonotic pathogens. As part of a broad One Health surveillance effort, we conducted surveillance for novel zoonotic viruses in wildlife, domestic animals, and people. Paramyxoviruses (PMV) was among the priority...

Introduction and Objectives or Purpose: Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging bat-borne virus causing fatal encephalitis outbreaks. Until 2020, Bangladesh reported 319 NiV cases with >70% mortality. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, A multidisciplinary team investigated four suspected NiV spillover events in three districts of Bangladesh between 2021 and 20...

Rodents are the most diverse mammalian order, along with shrews, have frequent direct and indirect contact with humans. These species are important hosts of many viruses affecting both human and animals. The current pandemic COVID-19 have sparked to explore the coronaviruses (CoVs) circulating in wildlife. Hence, the study sought to detect and char...

Introduction- An estimated 1.6 million people suffer from animal bites, resulting in approximately 2,100 reported human rabies deaths annually in Bangladesh. Using a One Health lens, we aimed to estimate the cost associated with human and animal rabies cases in the country. Methods- Between January-May 2019, we surveyed households of human rabies (...

The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 has caused >550 reported outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Bangladesh since 2007. We investigated multiple crow mortality events that occurred during the winter season (Nov-March) between 2016 and 2018 within the same areas of Dhaka and Rajshahi in Bangladesh to understand the transmissi...

The avian influenza virus (AIV) impacts poultry production, food security, livelihoods, and the risk of transmission to humans. Poultry, like pigeons and quail farming, is a growing sector in Bangladesh. However, the role of pigeons and quails in AIV transmission is not fully understood. Hence, we conducted this study to investigate the prevalence...

Background The avian influenza virus (AIV) causes significant economic losses by infecting poultry and occasional spillover to humans. Backyard farms are vulnerable to AIV epidemics due to poor health management and biosecurity practices, threatening rural households’ economic stability and nutrition. We have limited information about the risk fact...

Ducks, the natural reservoir of avian influenza virus (AIV), act as reassortment vessels for HPAI and low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus for domestic and wild bird species. In Bangladesh, earlier research was mainly focused on AIV in commercial poultry and live bird markets, where there is scanty literature reported on AIV in apparently he...

Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a zoonotic disease with epidemic potential due to its human-to-human transmission. In Bangladesh, where NiV infection is frequent, NiV spillover from fruit bats to humans usually occurs in winter. This study aimed to describe the magnitude and scope of a NiV outbreak in February 2019, identify the source of infection,...

With the progression of the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the new variants have become more infectious and continue spreading at a higher rate than pre-existing ones. Thus, we conducted a study to explore the epidemiology of emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 that circulated in Bangladesh from December 2020 to September 2021, representing the 2nd and 3r...

Host-virus associations have co-evolved under ecological and evolutionary selection pressures that shape cross-species transmission and spillover to humans. Observed virus-host associations provide relevant context for newly discovered wildlife viruses to assess knowledge gaps in host-range and estimate pathways for potential human infection. Using...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a waterborne zoonotic disease that can result in a high fatality rate in pregnant women and infants. In 2018, a large HEV outbreak emerged in Chattogram, Bang-ladesh, resulting in 2800 cases and a significant public health response to mitigate the transmission. While the source of the outbreak remained poorly understood,...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can spread to the environment through several routes and persist for a more extended period. Therefore, we reviewed pertinent literature to understand the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 and genomic epidemiology of emerging variants of concern (VOCs) in the environment, their inactiva...

Background and Aim: Bluetongue (BT) is a non-contagious, infectious disease of wild and domestic ruminant animals caused by the BT virus (BTV). Bangladesh has a border with a BTV-endemic country, India, and a substantial number of susceptible animals. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate BTV seroprevalence and potential risk factors. Materials...

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Several treatments are available for cancer treatment, but many treatment methods are ineffective against multidrug-resistant cancer. Multidrug resistance (MDR) represents a major obstacle to effective therapeutic interventions against cancer. This review describes the known MDR mechanisms in...

Nipah virus (NiV) is an emerging zoonotic virus causing outbreaks of encephalitis and respiratory illnesses in humans, with high mortality. NiV is considered endemic in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. There are no licensed vaccines against NiV. This study aimed at predicting a dual-antigen multi-epitope subunit chimeric vaccine against surface-glyco...

Knowledge of the dynamics and genetic diversity of Nipah virus circulating in bats and at the human-animal interface is limited by current sampling efforts, which produce few detections of viral RNA. We report a series of investigations at Pteropus medius bat roosts identified near the locations of human Nipah cases in Bangladesh during 2012–2019....

Avian influenza viruses (AIV) increase commercial and backyard poultry mortality and morbidity, reduces egg production, and elevates public health risk. Household ducks propagate and transmit HPAI and LPAI viruses between domesticated and wild birds in Southeast Asian countries, including Bangladesh. This study was conducted to identify epidemiolog...

Nipah virus (NiV), a zoonotic virus, engenders severe infections with noticeable complications and deaths in humans and animals. Since its emergence, it is frightening that this virus has been causing regular outbreaks in various countries, particularly Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia. Unfortunately, no efficient vaccine or drug is available to com...

Bats are the natural reservoir host for many pathogenic and non‐pathogenic viruses, potentially spilling over to humans and domestic animals directly or via an intermediate host. The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic is the continuation of virus spillover events that have taken place over the last few decades, particularly in Asia and Africa. Therefore, th...

Rodents and shrews live in close proximity to humans and have been identified as important hosts of zoonotic pathogens. This study aimed to detect Group A rotavirus (RVA) and its potential risk factors in rodents and shrews in Bangladesh. We captured 417 small mammals from 10 districts with a high degree of contact between people and domestic anima...

Marburg virus (MARV) has been a major concern since 1967, with two major outbreaks occurring in 1998 and 2004. Infection from MARV results in severe hemorrhagic fever, causing organ dysfunction and death. Exposure to fruit bats in caves and mines, and human-to-human transmission had major roles in the amplification of MARV outbreaks in African coun...

Purpose Bangladesh has faced recurrent house crow (Corvus splendens) mortality incidents due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses since 2011. We investigated one such event in Dhaka in 2017 to detect and molecularly characterize the avian influenza virus (AIV) in crows and poultry from nearby live bird markets (LBMs). Methods & Mate...

Purpose Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has caused ≥550 reported outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Bangladesh since 2007. Responding to reports of a crow mortality event in Rajshahi, a multidisciplinary team investigated the crow mortalities to identify the etiologic agent, source of the infection, and characterize the extent of the o...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have led to increased “inappropriate” or “unjustified” seeking and consumption of antibiotics by individuals in the community. However, little reference has been made to antibiotic seeking and using behaviors from the perspectives of users in Bangladesh during this health crisis. Purpose This study...

Current evidence indicates that more than half of all antimicrobials are used in the animal food-producing sector, which is considered a significant risk factor for the development, spread, and existence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pathogens in animals, humans, and the environment. Among other factors, clinical etiology and the level of knowl...

After a report of an unusually high number of crow deaths in Jessore, Bangladesh, a multidisciplinary team investigated the event in December 2018 to identify the etiologic agent, and the source and extent of the outbreak. We interviewed students, teachers, live bird sellers, poultry farm owners and cleaners for fever and cough symptoms. We reviewe...