Human Health: Ecosystem Regulation of Infectious Diseases

African Journal of Environment and Natural Science Research , 2021

Health is the most basic human right and one of the most important indicators of sustainable development. Individuals, communities and societies depend on healthy ecosystems support to remain healthy. Well-functioning ecosystems provide goods and services essential for human health. These goods and services include nutrition and food security, clean air and fresh water, medicines, cultural and spiritual values, and contributions to local livelihoods and economic development. They can also help to limit disease and stabilize the climate. However, over the years human activities have been constantly placing pressure on earth's natural resources to meet the demands of the economies and the needs of a rapidly growing global population, which has resulted in the transformation of basic natural processes such as weather/climate, biogeochemical cycling, and more so the biological diversity in which the evolutionary changes depend. It is projected that less than 25% of Earth's surface remains free from substantial impacts of human activities and the proportion is set to fall to a mere 10% or less by 2050. Constant human activities are resulting in soil, water and air pollution, increased emissions of greenhouse gases, deforestation and land use change, expanded urban areas, introduction of non-native species, and inadequately planned development of water and land resources to meet food and energy needs. These changes are having both direct and indirect impacts on our climate, ecosystems and biological diversity and human health. Thus, the integrated course of action that involves both individual and the government efforts must be instituted to tackle both human-induced drivers of biodiversity loss, disease emergence and the loss of ecosystem services that support health and general human well-being.

Academia Letters, 2021

Human activities have changed the planet and lead to the birth of a new era which is known as the "Anthropocene". Changes in land use have lead humans to closer contact with the pathogens of zoonotic diseases, including new strains of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Zoonotic diseases are the infectious diseases that are caused by pathogens that migrate from wilds to human either through direct transmission or through hosts such as insects, which carries the pathogen without themselves getting infected. In addition to the present SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the global Covid-19 pandemic, several other zoonoses caused several deadly epidemics and pandemics in the past few decades, such as the Bubonic plague, H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu); H5N1 Influenza (Avian Influenza or Bird flu); Zika Virus; Ebola Virus; Rift Valley fever (RVF); African sleeping sickness (sleeping sickness); Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Zoonotic diseases can be classified according to the ecosystem in which they circulate. They are classified into synanthropic zoonoses and exoanthropic zoonoses. Synanthropic Zoonoses prevailed in the urban cycle and the sources of infection are domestic and synanthropic animals. Examples include rabies, zoonotic ringworm, etc. Exoanthropic zoonosis prevails both in feral and wild cycles and the source of infection is outside human habitats. Examples include Lyme disease, tularemia, etc. There is also another category of zoonoses that can prevail both in wild and urban cycles. The best example is that causing yellow fever. Another category of zoonoses is Sapronoses responsible for human diseases transmissible from an abiotic environment. Sapronotic agents carry on two lifecycles one is in the abiotic substrate which is known as saprophytic lifecycle and another parasitic lifecycle in the body of the homeotherm vertebrate host. Some important sapronoses, like cholera and anthrax are capable of causing epidemics.

European Journal of Ecology, 2021

The emergence of infectious diseases is reviewed highlighting the potential role played by main environmental anthropogenic disturbances as, deforestation, land-use change, human-induced climate change, biodiversity loss and the illegal wildlife trade. Ultimately, it is plausible that the human impact on the biosphere could be the root cause of these emerging diseases, and that economic globalization, population growth and landscape anthropization might increase the likelihood of the emergence of novel zoonoses. This pattern bears similarities to phenomena that occurred during the Neolithic period with the emergence of agriculture and cattle domestication. Still today such phenomena could be accelerated by the vastly increased traffic of people and goods. Finally, we argue in favour of strong policies and actions aiming to mitigate the human impact on natural ecosystems as a key strategy to prevent future zoonoses.

2012

Routledge eBooks, 2023

Ecosystem degradation decreases planetary well-being Properly functioning ecosystems support diverse processes that sustain life, ranging from climate regulation and oxygen production to maintaining biodiversity. Ahealthyecosystemmaybedefinedasasustainableandresilientsystemthatmaintains its function despite external stress (Costanza and Mageau, 1999). A healthy ecosystem provides key services to its biota, and disturbances to the system may impact the health and/or abundance of key members of its assemblage, such that they can no longer perform their ecological roles. In this chapter, we discuss the cascading effects that ecosystem degradation has on the health of wildlife, humans, and entire ecosystems and the consequent threat to planetary well-being. Overexploitation of natural resources by humans has resulted in widespread ecosystem degradation: More than half of all ecosystems on Earth have deteriorated because of human actions (Myers, 2017; Song et al., 2018). This degradation has negatively impacted a range of ecological functions with notable adverse consequences for the well-being of wildlife (undomesticated animals and plants inhabiting natural environments) and humans. Environmental change has, for example, directly increased infectious disease prevalence in humans and other organisms by facilitating the spread of invasive species, disease vectors (organisms that carry and transmit pathogens to other organisms), and pathogens (Parmesan and Yohe, 2003). The interplay between ecosystem, human, and nonhuman health is recognized by several well-established health-related concepts, such as Conservation Medicine (

EcoHealth

Coviability of Social and Ecological Systems: Reconnecting Mankind to the Biosphere in an Era of Global Change, 2019

The increasing number of emerging infectious diseases over the past few decades can likely be explained by a loss in biodiversity. Deforestation and forest fragmentation on large spatial scales represent major threats to biodiversity and species interactions, particularly in a biodiversity hot spot like Southeast Asia. Biodiversity appears as a source of pathogenic diversity, but biodiversity loss is a source of epidemics, at least at a national level. At local levels conflicting results emerged on the supposed role of biodiversity in regulating the epidemiology of diseases. In this chapter we investigate (i) the origins and consequences of the potential impacts of land use changes for the spread and emergence of infectious diseases, (ii) what the likely ecological mechanisms are, and (iii) how a new framework was embedded in the ecosystem services’ approach (iv) the various gaps in knowledge impeding the full implementation of (iii) and (v) the lack of explicit reference to coviabi...

Ecosystem Health, 1999

Epidemiologic concepts have important applications in the assessment of ecosystem health and ecosystem health is a critical determinant of some epidemiologic events. Thus the two are intimately interrelated and concepts from one find ready applications in the other. The temporal and spatial spread of ecological degradation across the earth's ecosystems has some of the characteristics of an epidemiologic process, with humans as the “infective” agent. Elevated disease prevalence in both plants and animals is one of the key indicators of ecosystem pathology, and conversely, pathologic ecosystems place increased risks to the health of all components, thus ecosystem health becomes a major determinant of risks to the health of component populations. These relations suggest important links between the areas of epidemiology, phytopathology, and systems ecology. Understanding these links can provide enhanced capacities for diagnosis and risk assessment in all three areas.

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2008

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Environmental Evidence

Background The control and prevention of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases is often based on the reduction of host or vector populations, involving but not limited to preventative culling and use of insecticides. Yet, destructive interventions such as these have shown several limitations including ineffectiveness on arthropods and negative impacts on ecosystems. An alternative strategy would be to rely on the natural ecosystem functions and their careful management to regulate such diseases. The goal of our work was to evaluate existing scientific evidence on potential links between ecosystem components/functions and 14 vector-borne and zoonotic diseases impacting human health and answer the question: “What evidence exists on the impact of specific ecosystem components and functions on infectious diseases?”. Methods We searched for scientific articles published in English and French and screened them in a 3-round process (title, abstract and full-text). Articles were retained, with...

2020

COVID-19 has demonstrated that the coordinated actions of individuals and decision makers can make a difference to the outcome of a grave threat to society. This review paper presents a meta-analysis of the literature demonstrating how land use change, environmental degradation and climate change increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases, which can seriously impact human health and society. This paper provides evidence of how a focus on economic growth without sustainable production and consumption processes has led to higher risk of future pandemics. While many previous studies have pointed at these risks, we propose that recent experiences with COVID-19 present the potential to turn society toward more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable ways of production, consumption and landscape management. DEFINITIONS Disease occurrence from endemic to pandemic level Most diseases will be present in a community at some base or endemic level that is not zero but not high enough to deplete the pool of susceptible people. Occasionally, the number of cases of a disease at a community level may increase, often suddenly, to above what is normally expected for the population in that geographical area, at which point we refer to the disease as an epidemic. If the epidemic is restricted to a small geographical area it is called an outbreak. When the epidemic spreads to a larger population over several countries or continents, it becomes a pandemic (Barreto et al., 2006). Emerging infectious disease (EIDs) EIDs are defined as diseases where the incidence in humans has increased within the past two decades or threatens to increase in the near future (van Doorn, 2014). An EID appear in a population for the first time, may have been present previously but was undetected, or has existed previously but is rapidly increasing, either in terms of the number of new cases within a population or in its spread to new geographical areas (WHO, 2014). Zoonotic disease This is disease spread from animals to humans. Pathogens (organisms that cause disease) include viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and helminth worms. The majority of known human pathogens are transmitted to humans zoonotically, i.e. being passed from an animal reservoir to human populations (van Doorn, 2014). Approximately 60% of all infectious diseases, and about 75% of EIDs that have affected people over the past three decades are zoonotic infections (WHO, 2014).

… and human well- …, 2011

2016

Terra-Ecology Medicine, from the perspective of ecologically responsive environmentally responsible planning and design, is the emerging art and science of identifying causes, symptoms and therapeutics of ecological diseases on Earth’s pristine nature brought about by human impacts. Ecological damages and injuries to the terrestrial environment generated by anthropogenic pathology must be effectively diagnosed, treated, rehabilitated and prevented at every scale. Therapeutic as well as surgical procedures toward ecological healing must be implemented through a wide range of disciplines including planning, design, engineering, construction and operational methods. All environmentally-focused practitioners must be sensitive to criticality of generating adverse effects on the health and beauty of the pristine terrestrial ecology. Implemented incrementally by contemporary practices, most human-built environmental re/developments devote little or no consideration for ecological health or longevity of Nature. The human impacts on terrestrial ecology continue to multiply in numbers and to expand in area, size and intensity, culminating to overwhelm the entire natural metabolism i.e. the very systems of natural regeneration and restoration. Ecologically detrimental effects of humanization are often results of short-sighted rules and regulations, archaic market and industry standards, and egotistical motives for quick growth and gains. All of these factors must transcend into a renewed paradigm toward restoration and rehabilitation of terrestrial ecological health. The researchers, scientists, educators, policy-makers, land-, property-, business-owners, as well as planning, design, engineering and construction practitioners must all realize that there is immense power and real potency in numbers. In that, seemingly small but properly purposed contributions from a multitude of small efforts throughout the world will rapidly alter the course of current reality. As responsible practitioners of terra-ecological health, the global communities of environmental planners, designers and engineers must diagnose, treat and prevent pathogenic effects of the human-built systems and environments in a timely manner. When necessary, the terra-ecological health and longevity must be responsibly restored and rehabilitated through therapeutic or surgical procedures involving re-planning, re-design, re-construction and re-developments. Preventing further disease, restoring and maintaining terra-ecological health is not only a practical way to insure long and prosperous existence for humanity but also a moral obligation to respect and preserve sanctity of all forms of life on planet Earth.

Oikos, 2016