Climate change will increase pressure on species to migrate, bringing thousands of new chances for viruses to jump from one species to another in the coming decades.
to novel places where they will mingle with other species for the first time.
"This [study] is really stressing that there are lots of cross species transmission events that are happening now, and many more that can happen as environments are changing," says Thomas Gillespie, a disease ecologist at Emory University who was not part of the new study.A pathogen's ability to jump from one species to another depends on whether the hosts have a chance to interact and how similar the two host species are to one another.
Most jumps to new species are "dead ends" for viruses — they don't make their hosts sick and fail to spread. But those that do can be devastating.The new study models how the ranges of mammal species, which are hosts to viruses that are most likely to spill over to humans, might change under different climate and land use scenarios for the year 2070.
For example, several bat species could carry Ebola from West Africa to East Africa, where they would interact with new species and create opportunities for spillover to humans.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Animal relocating could be the trigger for the next pandemic, study findsAn international research team led by scientists at Georgetown University have found the link between climate change and viral transmission, predicting that it could lead to the next pandemic.
Read more »
Climate change may increase risk of new infectious diseasesClimate change will result in thousands of new viruses spread among animal species by 2070 — and that’s likely to increase the risk of emerging diseases jumping from animals to humans, study finds.
Read more »
How Climate Change Could Lead to a New PandemicResearchers predict that climate change is going to shake up where animals live, abetting the exchange of more infectious viruses than ever before—and all in dangerous proximity to humans
Read more »
Animal melting pot created by climate change could lead to new disease outbreaksAs ClimateChange forces mammalian species to shift their habitats, a new modeling study predicts many animals will meet for the first time and swap viruses that could spark disease outbreaks in wildlife populations—and in humans as well.
Read more »
Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk - NatureNature research paper: Climate change increases cross-species viral transmission risk
Read more »
Texas’ Firestorm FutureMore than 90 percent of all land in Texas is privately owned, giving the lion’s share of responsibility for wildfire prevention to individual landowners.
Read more »