Land Use Change and Human Health

Human activity is dramatically changing the global landscape. These changes in land use and cover are, in turn, altering the dynamics of infectious disease transmission in numerous ways. They are creating new habitat and breeding sites for disease vectors that, in many cases, favor disease transmission. They are leading to direct exposure to pathogens by changing water quality and runoff patterns. They are altering the nature of human–wildlife interactions and creating new exposure routes. Not surprisingly, these changes are occurring coincident with a rise in new or reemerging infectious diseases. These are not merely academic concerns. The diseases impacted by these changes represent a large percentage of the total global burden of disease.