Abstract

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a contagious, severe and often lethal form of hemorrhagic fever in humans. The association of EVD outbreaks with forest clearance has been suggested previously but many aspects remained uncharacterized. We used remote sensing techniques to investigate the association between deforestation in time and space, with EVD outbreaks in Central and West Africa. Favorability modeling, centered on 27 EVD outbreak sites and 280 comparable control sites, revealed that outbreaks located along the limits of the rainforest biome were significantly associated with forest losses within the previous 2 years. This association was strongest for closed forests (>83%), both intact and disturbed, of a range of tree heights (5–>19 m). Our results suggest that the increased probability of an EVD outbreak occurring in a site is linked to recent deforestation events, and that preventing the loss of forests could reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks.

Details

Title
Recent loss of closed forests is associated with Ebola virus disease outbreaks
Author
Olivero, Jesús 1 ; Fa, John E 2 ; Real, Raimundo 1 ; Márquez, Ana L 1 ; Farfán, Miguel A 1 ; Vargas, J Mario 1 ; Gaveau, David 3 ; Salim, Mohammad A 3 ; Park, Douglas 4 ; Suter, Jamison 5 ; King, Shona 4 ; Siv Aina Leendertz 6 ; Sheil, Douglas 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nasi, Robert 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Grupo de Biogeografía, Diversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología Animal, Fac. Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071, Málaga, Spain 
2  Division of Biology and Conservation Ecology, School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK; Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jalan Cifor Rawajaha, Situ Gede, Bogor Barat, Kota Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia 
3  Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jalan Cifor Rawajaha, Situ Gede, Bogor Barat, Kota Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia 
4  ERM Foundation, Exchequer Court, 33 St Mary Axe, London, UK 
5  The Environment Foundation for Africa, 16 Main Peninsula Road, Sussex, Freetown, Sierra Leone 
6  Epidemiology of Highly Infectious Microorganisms, Robert Koch Institute, Seestrasse 10, Berlin, Germany; Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Seestrasse 10, Berlin, Germany 
7  Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, Ås, Norway 
Pages
1-9
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Oct 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14727-9
ProQuest document ID
1957754178
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.