Colva Beach in Goa, India. People across South Asia already face extreme poverty, with climate change projected to worsen their impoverishment. (Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/Rajib Ghosh)

Our weekly round-up compiles stories and news, both from here at Penn and around the world, that highlight the intersection of animal, environmental, and human health.

By Jacob Williamson-Rea

FEATURED ITEM:
Global warming in South Asia: 800 million at risk
The New York Times, June 28, 2018
Six of the countries that make up South Asia—Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh—already face heightened annual temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. If climate change continues on its current course, poverty could intensify in those hot spots, warns the World Bank.

Ebola outbreak in Congo ‘largely contained,’ says WHO
Reuters, June 20, 2018
The World Health Organization has announced that no new cases of Ebola have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo since June 9, 2018.

Tick discovery highlights how few answers we have about these pests in the U.S.
Scientific American, June 26, 2018
While many tick species can be found in the U.S., researchers are perplexed by how the long-horned tick (H. longicornis)—common in Australia, east Asia, and New Zealand—arrived on a New Jersey farm and in several other states.

The amazing return of the starfish: Species triumphs over melting disease
The Guardian, June 26, 2018
Starfish faced a massive mortality event on the western coast of North America due to a mysterious virus, worrying researchers that the population would never make a comeback. But a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that juvenile starfish adapted quickly by developing a genetic resistance to the virus.

Flight attendants get more uterine, thyroid and other cancers, study finds
CNN, June 26, 2018
A new study published in the journal Environmental Health discovered that flight attendants face serious health risks, including an array of cancers. This could possibly be linked to frequent interruptions in their circadian rhythms.

Leprosy lurks in armadillos in Brazil’s Amazon
Science News, June 28, 2018
More than 60 percent of Brazilian armadillos carry Mycobacterium leprae, the leprosy bacterium. Brazilian villagers who eator even huntthese armadillos are at a higher risk of catching the disease.