(posted by Marta Berbes-Blazquez)
The work of Dr. Raina Plowright, and other researchers associated with ecohealth, has been featured in a short article in the NY Times entitled "In wild animals, charting the pathways of disease":
"The new work on wild immune systems casts disease in a new light: as an environmental issue. One ecological driver of bat virus transmission is development in the flying foxes’ natural habitat. Instead of living in a wild forest, the bats swoop into the cities and suburbs that replaced it, feeding on nectar in gardens and trees and then passing viruses along to horses and humans.
A common thread, disease ecologists say, is that clearing or altering a forest can be akin to opening a Pandora’s box. Keeping nature intact, or developing it in sustainable ways, protects against disease. "
The work of Dr. Raina Plowright, and other researchers associated with ecohealth, has been featured in a short article in the NY Times entitled "In wild animals, charting the pathways of disease":
"The new work on wild immune systems casts disease in a new light: as an environmental issue. One ecological driver of bat virus transmission is development in the flying foxes’ natural habitat. Instead of living in a wild forest, the bats swoop into the cities and suburbs that replaced it, feeding on nectar in gardens and trees and then passing viruses along to horses and humans.
A common thread, disease ecologists say, is that clearing or altering a forest can be akin to opening a Pandora’s box. Keeping nature intact, or developing it in sustainable ways, protects against disease. "