Hantavirus study shows restoring forests can reduce zoonotic disease risk

[UngulateNerd92]

• Brazilian scientists have found that transmission of hantavirus, a deadly infection, could be reduced by 45% if Brazil restores its Atlantic Forest to levels mandated by its Native Vegetation Protection Law.
• Hantavirus, spresd by contact with infected rodents, can become more prevalent across a landscape when forests are cleared and rodent populations increase.
• While the study’s simulations must be confirmed by field studies, this initial research shows that lowering zoonotic disease risk through forest restoration holds promise.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought zoonotic diseases into the global spotlight in a way nothing has done for a century, even though zoonoses — diseases passed between humans and animals — have always posed a public health threat. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has forced us to confront the connection between human and environmental health and the painful consequences of that relationship breaking down.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...forests-can-reduce-zoonotic-disease-risk/amp/

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

• Brazilian scientists have found that transmission of hantavirus, a deadly infection, could be reduced by 45% if Brazil restores its Atlantic Forest to levels mandated by its Native Vegetation Protection Law.
• Hantavirus, spresd by contact with infected rodents, can become more prevalent across a landscape when forests are cleared and rodent populations increase.
• While the study’s simulations must be confirmed by field studies, this initial research shows that lowering zoonotic disease risk through forest restoration holds promise.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought zoonotic diseases into the global spotlight in a way nothing has done for a century, even though zoonoses — diseases passed between humans and animals — have always posed a public health threat. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has forced us to confront the connection between human and environmental health and the painful consequences of that relationship breaking down.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...forests-can-reduce-zoonotic-disease-risk/amp/

I suspect that incidence of zoonotic transmission of Hantavirus would also increase with overpopulation of rodents in fragmented habitats partly as a result of the absence or decline of mid-level predators like ocelot, margay, tayra etc.

This kind of zoonotic spillover could be ecological blowback of ecosystems out of whack the way that Lyme disease is in the USA.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

I suspect that incidence of zoonotic transmission of Hantavirus would also increase with overpopulation of rodents in fragmented habitats partly as a result of the absence or decline of mid-level predators like ocelot, margay, tayra etc.

This kind of zoonotic spillover could be ecological blowback of ecosystems out of whack the way that Lyme disease is in the USA.

That makes perfect sense, and that is why I think reintroduction and rewinding of Carnivora can play a pivotal role in preventing further pandemics.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

That makes perfect sense, and that is why I think reintroduction and rewinding of Carnivora can play a pivotal role in preventing further pandemics.

Yes, totally agree, certainly we need to realize the importance of predators in ecosystems and how intrinsically connected ecological health is to human health and now is as good a time as any.

Actually I think I remember reading something about hantavirus transmission rising in the Bolivian Andes due to decline of predators, will have to look that up.