IMAGE AND MAP: ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE62 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Location, Location, Location
EcoHealth Alliance, another New York-based non-proit
focused on global health, is also interested in how and when
diseases jump from animals to humans. Not
only is it looking at which species put humans
at risk, it also focuses on which regions and
animal habitats are more susceptible to
sparking pandemics.
“A few years ago, we compiled a database of
every known emerging disease to ind out what
the reality is,” says Peter Daszak, a disease
ecologist and the organization’s president.
“Around two-thirds of all emerging diseases,
maybe even more, are of animal origin.”
Daszak and his team created a mathematical
model that uses outbreak data from the last 50
years to predict where outbreaks might occur.
With that tool, he and his colleagues found
that many of these hot spots of emerging diseases were
in tropical areas. Then, EcoHealth team members went
out to these areas, testing local residents and wildlife
for disease to conirm their model’s accuracy. Those
regions host incredibly dense and diverse wildlife, and
since each species comes with its own set of pathogens,
the more biodiversity you have, the greater the risk of
emerging diseases.
“We live in a globalized world where we’re changing
the environment so fundamentally that pathogens are
changing their behavior,” Daszak says. “They can jump
from one species to another more easily because we’re
butting up against different species.”Peter
Daszak
disease
ecologist and
president,
EcoHealth
Alliance Based on data from past outbreaks, EcoHealth
Alliance’s mathematical model flags areas (usually
those rich in biodiversity) that are more likely to
spawn an emerging disease in the future. The
warmer the color, the greater the likelihood.