Applying ecology to understand zoonotic disease threats

Photo Credit

Forest Service photo by Kristi DuBois

Deer mice are the primary reservoir for Sin Nombre hantavirus, the causal agent for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in humans. 

Human activities can alter environmental conditions that drive rates of zoonotic disease (animal-borne pathogens that can infect humans) on the landscape. Such changes can increase or decrease potential spillover into human populations, but these processes are poorly understood.

This study illustrates how ecological theory can be applied to explain when and how environmental conditions are likely to increase or decrease hantavirus risk, which is a mouse-borne zoonotic disease that can be deadly to humans.

Ecological theory can explain the link between ecological context (environmental conditions and wildlife) and zoonotic disease prevalence on the landscape, providing a way to predict how natural and anthropogenic change may influence disease dynamics.

This study provides a robust theoretical framework to better understand and mitigate the threats of animal borne diseases to humans over large spatial and temporal scales.