Aside from claiming high numbers of victims, what do Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS), Ebola and COVID-19 have in common? The answer is that all three are zoonoses, the term given to an infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has jumped from animals to humans. Nearly three-quarters of recognized emerging infectious diseases (EID) are known to have originated from animals, generally from wildlife, and as the world has attempted to digest the profound implications of COVID-19 in recent months, much has been written about wet markets in China, thought to have been the starting point for significant human to human transmission.
However, strong evidence points to another connection – namely, forest degradation and habitat loss, or more specifically the way that nature is used to meet societal needs. Research has revealed that a small but significant percentage of emerging infectious diseases have a direct connection with forests; one study found that some 15 percent of approximately 250 EIDs analysed were linked with forests, with several of these, such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola, related to high costs in terms of human lives. Read more…
