Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis that poses an increasing global public health risk. Pacific Island communities are highly vulnerable to leptospirosis outbreaks, yet the local drivers of infection remain poorly understood. We conducted a systematic review to identify the drivers of human Leptospira infection in the Pacific Islands. There were 42 included studies from which findings were synthesized descriptively. In tropical Pacific Islands, infections were a product of sociodemographic factors such as male gender/sex, age 20 to 60 years, Indigenous ethnicity, and poverty; lifestyle factors such as swimming, gardening, and open skin wounds; and environmental factors, including seasonality, heavy rainfall, and exposure to rodents, cattle, and pigs. Possible mitigation strategies in these islands include strengthening disease reporting standards at a regional level; improving water security, rodent control, and piggery management at a community level; and information campaigns to target individual-level drivers of infection. By contrast, in New Zealand, exposures were predominantly occupational, with infections occurring in meat and farm workers. Accordingly, interventions could include adjustments to occupational practices and promoting the uptake of animal vaccinations. Given the complexity of disease transmission and future challenges posed by climate change, further action is required for leptospirosis control in the Pacific Islands.

In September 2016, an imported case of measles in Edinburgh in a university student resulted in a further 17 confirmed cases during October and November 2016. All cases were genotype D8 and were associated with a virus strain most commonly seen in South East Asia. Twelve of the 18 cases were staff or students at a university in Edinburgh and 17 cases had incomplete or unknown measles mumps rubella (MMR) vaccination status. The public health response included mass follow-up of all identified contacts, widespread communications throughout universities in Edinburgh and prompt vaccination clinics at affected campuses. Imported cases of measles pose a significant risk to university student cohorts who may be undervaccinated, include a large number of international students and have a highly mobile population. Public health departments should work closely with universities to promote MMR uptake and put in place mass vaccination plans to prevent rapidly spreading measles outbreaks in higher educational settings in future.

Airline deregulation in 1978 and optimization of routes have been a boon to foreign travel, including to and from Canada, which has one of the fastest growing populations of the G8 countries. Millions of overseas tourists visit Canada each year. More than 20% (almost 7 million) of Canada’s population is foreign born, with at least 50% of new immigrants arriving from tropical locales. Recent immigrants may travel to and from their countries of origin.

Leptospirosis is a globally important zoonotic infection caused by spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira. It is transmitted to humans by direct contact with infected animals or indirectly via contaminated water. It is mainly a problem of the resource-poor developing countries of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world but outbreaks due to an increase in travel and recreational activities have been reported in developed and more industrialized areas of the world. Current methods of diagnosis are costly, time-consuming and require the use of specialized laboratory equipment and personnel. The purpose of this paper is to report the validation of the ‘Leptorapide®’ test (Linnodee Ltd, Northern Ireland) for the diagnosis of human leptospirosis. It is a simple one-step latex agglutination assay performed using equal volumes of serum sample and antigen-bound latex beads. Evidence of leptospiral antibodies is determined within minutes. Agglutination is scored on a scale of 1–5 and the results interpreted using a score card provided with the kit. Validation has been performed with a large sample size obtained from individuals originating from various parts of the world including Brazil and India. The test has shown sensitivity and specificity values of 97·1% and 94·0%, respectively, relative to the microscopic agglutination test. The results demonstrate that Leptorapide offers a cost-effective and accurate alternative to the more historical methods of antibody detection.

We examined the spatial distribution pattern and meteorological drivers of dengue fever (DF) in Guangdong Province, China. Annual incidence of DF was calculated for each county between 2005 and 2011 and the geographical distribution pattern of DF was examined using Moran's I statistic and excess risk maps. A time-stratified case-crossover study was used to investigate the short-term relationship between DF and meteorological factors and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). High-epidemic DF areas were restricted to the Pearl River Delta region and the Han River Delta region, Moran's I of DF distribution was significant from 2005 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2011. Daily vapour pressure, mean and minimum temperatures were associated with increased DF risk. Maximum temperature and SOI were negatively associated with DF transmission. The risk of DF was non-randomly distributed in the counties in Guangdong Province. Meteorological factors could be important predictors of DF transmission.

Sensitive surveillance systems are crucial for effective control of infectious disease outbreaks, and regional surveillance could provide valuable data to supplement global systems, improve sensitivity and timeliness of reporting, or capture otherwise undetected outbreaks. In New Zealand (NZ), there are no endemic arboviral diseases in humans, and the majority of dengue cases are imported from neighbouring Pacific Islands where comprehensive surveillance systems are under development. From 1997 to 2009, 679 cases of dengue were reported in NZ (74·2% acquired from the Pacific Islands), and the patterns of reported incidence of dengue acquired from different islands closely reflected local reported incidence in those areas. NZ is therefore in a unique position to provide early alerts on dengue outbreaks in the Pacific Islands. Such a strategy would reduce disease burden in both the Pacific Islands and NZ, and provide a model for transnational collaboration in disease surveillance with regional as well as global benefits.

The Torrid Zone, more casually referred to as the tropics, has been discriminated against since Aristotle divided the world into three zones. The tropics have been considered too hot for civilised habitation, a place of great horrors, and a dangerous place of pestilence. Consequently, others have chosen to explore the Temperate and Frigid zones. However, the tropics has become an increasingly critical global zone. With a huge, and rapidly growing, population it is facing some of the most formidable issues in history, including the impact of climate change and environmental degradation, poor health and educational outcomes, extreme poverty, and political and economic instability. This article advocates for the tropics to be recognised as a major expanding geo-political region that needs to be comprehensively understood by psychology and other disciplines through research and investigation.