Grantee Research Project Results
2017 Progress Report: Assessment, Monitoring and Adaptation To Food and Water Security Threats to the Sustainability of Arctic Remote Alaska Native Villages
EPA Grant Number: R835597Title: Assessment, Monitoring and Adaptation To Food and Water Security Threats to the Sustainability of Arctic Remote Alaska Native Villages
Investigators: Berner, James E. , Brubaker, Michael
Institution: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2018 (Extended to June 30, 2019)
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2016 through June 30,2017
Project Amount: $888,282
RFA: Science for Sustainable and Healthy Tribes (2013) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Tribal Environmental Health Research , Human Health
Objective:
The objective of this funding has been to develop a community-based, resident-operated environmental monitoring program for use in small, remote, subsistence-dependent Arctic Alaskan villages. The warming Arctic climate has been accompanied by the movement of zoonotic pathogens and harmful algal blooms into the circumpolar north, which were not previously seen in Arctic traditional food species. In addition, ocean transport of harmful contaminants - such as mercury- and changes in forage species available for sea mammals have introduced new risk factors to traditional foods. The extent of these new climate-mediated changes in Arctic marine environments is not well understood. Through this grant, the Rural Alaska Monitoring Program (RAMP) was developed.
Arctic residents depend on these species, and need to adapt harvest patterns and food processing methods to reduce risk. The primary goals of this project are to provide monitoring tools for residents, produce data on known and emerging risk factors, and establish the means to prospectively gather future data on trends in risk factor prevalence.
Villages equipped with risk factor data are better able to develop adaptation strategies to reduce risk for vulnerable members of the community, and maintain the cultural and population health benefits of the traditional diet.
Progress Summary:
- The use of blood-soaked filter paper samples, gathered from subsistence-harvested Alaska Native hunters, has been institutionalized in the Bering Strait region. Test kits have been developed, field-tested, and distributed by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) and its project partner, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Training of hunters is ongoing, and supported by ANTHC, UAF, and Kawerak Inc., the Tribal Corporation for the Bering Strait region.
- ANTHC has used this grant to support UAF in developing the laboratory methods for utilizing filter paper samples to determine the presence of antibodies to three zoonotic pathogens: Toxoplasma gondii, brucella, and Coxiella burnetti. A total of 161 specimens from four species of ice seals and other sea mammals totaled 161were collected from subsistence hunters in Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea villages. These species included 16 stellar sea lions, 30 northern fur seals, 41 bearded seals, 32 spotted seals, 29 ringed seals, and 13 ribbon seals. Prevalence of these three zoonotic pathogen antibodies in the samples gathered in 2016-17 is being determined, and should be available by the end of calendar year 2017.
- Additional development of the use of blood-soaked filter paper specimens includes analysis of total blood mercury (THg), total blood selenium (TSe), and determination of the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (SIRs). The molar ratio of Hg and Se is important for assessing the risk of toxicity to human consumers in traditional marine food species. Additionally, SIRs are indicative of the trophic level of forage, the changes in which may coincide with changes in ocean temperature. These developments have been accomplished by the ANTHC partners at the UAF Wildlife Toxicology Laboratory (WTL).
- 2017 samples of walrus and seal stomach and intestinal contents from spring hunts are being analyzed for saxitoxin and domoic acid associated harmful algal bloom toxins. Results will be available in November 2017.
- 2017 filter paper blood samples from 171 caribou showed 8.8% positive for Brucella abortus on the plate test, 1.75% positive and 1.75% suspect for Toxoplasma Gondi on indirect ELISA, and no positives for Coxiella burnetti. Total blood mercury was below the level of detection in all samples.
- PCR testing of pooled mosquitoes from the collection sites in the Bering Strait region were 9% positive for Franciscella tularensis genes; Interior Alaska pooled samples showed 5% positive, and control sites in Fairbanks and Anchorage were both 8% positive.
Future Activities:
Land and sea mammals will continue to be sampled and tested for antibodies to the three pathogens being monitored, mercury and selenium levels, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Samples of stomach and intestinal contents from sea mammals will continue to be collected and tested for the presence of saxitoxin and domoic acid.
New community concerns caused by an outbreak of infections from Trichinella infected walrus meat, and movement of the reservoir and vector hosts for Echinococcus multilocularis into new regions of Alaska, have prompted a plan to see if filter paper sampling can facilitate detection of this infection in sea mammal species. Examination of canid and mustelid carcasses donated by Alaska Native fur trappers, and donated samples of feces from village dogs, will allow examination of GI tract contents to detect the eggs of this parasite. This will allow estimation of the infection risk associated with village dogs.
Adaptation and risk reduction strategies will be developed using data from samples collected in 2017, combined with discussions with village residents and Tribal Health organizations. The objective is to enable village residents to live in their present communities and safely harvest and consume their traditional diet.
Journal Articles on this Report : 2 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 20 publications | 5 publications in selected types | All 5 journal articles |
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O'Hara TM, Templeton M, Castellini M, Wells R, Beckman K, Berner J. Use of blood-soaked cellulose filter paper for measuring carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 2018;54(2):375-379. |
R835597 (2017) R835597 (2018) R835597 (Final) |
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O'Hara T, Hueffer K, Murphy M, Castellini JM, Li Y, Rea L, Berner J. Developing a Sentinal-based Baja California Sur Rural Mexico Monitoring Program (BCS RMMP):lessons learned from Alaska. Recursos Naturales y Sociedad 2017;3(2):12-31. |
R835597 (2017) R835597 (2018) R835597 (Final) |
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Relevant Websites:
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium - Community Environment & Health Exit
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium - Food Security Exit
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.