Biodiversity Loss Can Increase Infectious Diseases In Humans

The extinction of plant and animal species can be likened to emptying a museum of its collection, or dumping a cabinet full of potential medicines into the trash, or replacing every local cuisine with McDonald's burgers.

But the decline of species and their habitats may not just make the world boring. New research now suggests it may also put you at greater risk for catching some nasty disease.

"Habitat destruction and biodiversity loss," -- driven by the replacement of local species by exotic ones, deforestation, global transportation, encroaching cities, and other environmental changes -- "can increase the incidence and distribution of infectious diseases in humans," write University of Vermont biologist Joe Roman, EPA scientist Montira Pongsiri, and seven co-authors in BioScience.

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University of Vermont. "Biodiversity loss can increase infectious diseases in humans." ScienceDaily, 3 Dec. 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.

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