November 9, 2005

West Nile virus.  Hantavirus.  Lyme disease.  All are infectious diseases spreading in animals, and in humans.  Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?

A joint National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health program -- ecology of infectious diseases (EID) -- supports efforts to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.  Projects funded through the EID program and other NSF programs allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events—such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution—alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and animals.  See full report for details.

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