The Ecology of Disease

This is from Sunday's New York Times. It seems that as we mow down the natural world it is fighting back. 60% of the infectious diseases we contract come from animals we have domesticated. Many of the worst of them - AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, SARS, Lyme - have reared their ugly heads as we push further into natural habitat.

“Any emerging disease in the last 30 or 40 years has come about as a result of encroachment into wild lands and changes in demography,” says Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist and the president of EcoHealth.

Now, with project called Predict, "experts are trying to figure out, based on how people alter the landscape — with a new farm or road, for example — where the next diseases are likely to spill over into humans and how to spot them when they do emerge, before they can spread."

And it isn't just human health that is effected. World Bank predicts that a severe flu pandemic could cost the world economy as much as three trillion dollars.