Ebola Virus Appears Tied to Increasing Human Population Density Animal-to-Human Transmission of Ebola Virus Appears Tied to Increasing Human Population Density in Forested Regions
Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center have found
an apparent link between human population density and vegetation cover
in Africa and the spread of the Ebola virus from animal hosts to humans.
Michael G. Walsh, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of epidemiology and
biostatistics in the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate, notes
that there is significant interaction between population density and
green vegetation cover in the parts of Africa that have seen outbreaks
of Ebola virus disease (EVD).
In contrast, in areas of very low population density, increasing
vegetation was associated with a decrease in risk of animal-to-human
transmission. The findings were published in the open-access journal
PeerJ,
on January 20, 2015, in an article titled, “The landscape configuration
of zoonotic transmission of Ebola virus disease in West and Central
Africa: interaction between population density and vegetation cover.”
Infographic prepared by Catherine Machalaba and William B. Karesh
The current Ebola outbreak highlights the links between health,
global environmental change and socio-ecological systems – and shows how
exploring those links is key to finding solutions.
“These findings cannot be viewed as causal due to the observational
nature of the data,” says Dr. Walsh, “but they do suggest that the
specific landscape configuration of interaction between human
populations and forested land may facilitate transmission of the Ebola
virus from animals to humans.” He adds, “The reservoir species of the
Ebola virus is believed to be fruit bats, with a secondary source being
non-human primates. As human populations increase and move into forested
areas that are home to these animals, the risk of humans contracting
EVD appears to increase, judging from our analysis of EVD outbreaks in
Central and West Africa.”
SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical
school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall
and to the patient’s bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in
research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related
Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health,
University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Park and
Biotechnology Incubator.
SUNY Downstate ranks twelfth nationally in the number of alumni who
are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians
practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from
any other medical school. For more information,
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