Anthropogenic Changes in Land Use Impact the Emergence and Transmission of Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Human interventions in natural landscapes have promoted rapid and profound transformations in the environment, generating great impacts at different levels, including on human and animal health. Actions such as deforestation for logging, intensive agriculture, construction of large hydroelectric dams, pastures for cattle, mining, and construction of roads that favor human access to remote areas have promoted habitat destruction, changes in trophic chains due to nutritional factors, loss of biodiversity, changes in the natural balance of vectors, mammals, hosts and pathogen reservoirs, and closer human contact with wildlife. Another important impact related to changes in land use is forest and habitat fragmentation. According to different investigations, anthropogenic actions causing changes in land use are potential inducers of emergence/reemergence and increased transmission of infectious diseases in the world, including those with pandemic potential. Most of these diseases are classified as zoonoses and many are arboviruses. Deforestation and agricultural intensification seem to be the events that most influence the incidence of zoonoses. Changes in land use may also favor a species jump to a zoonotic pathogen, making it a potential threat to humanity if it acquires an efficient capacity for inter-human transmission. Here, we summarize important evidence on how anthropogenic changes in land use influence the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases to humans.