EMERGÊNCIA DE DOENÇAS INFECCIOSAS HUMANAS: PROCESSOS ECOLÓGICOS E ABORDAGENS PREDITIVAS

Abstract

EMERGENCE OF HUMAN INFECTIOUS DISEASES: ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND PREDICTIVE APPROACHES. Recent research on the increasing trend of human infections disease emergence has stressed the importance of zoonotic processes, especially those originating in wildlife. Several ecological mechanisms contribute to increased risk of diseases emergence from wildlife to humans. Among these we should emphasize the loss of biological diversity, through the mechanism of “dilution” as well as the “spillover” mechanism in the context of meta-community dynamics. Some predictive approaches have been developed to facilitate the identification of situations of high risk of disease emergence. The most important is the “Hotspots” approach, based on epidemiological, demographic, historical, microbiological and biogeographical information.

Keywords: Zoonosis; conceptual models; meta-community; disease emergence.