Ecological Barrier Deterioration Driven by Human Activities Poses Fatal Threats to Public Health due to Emerging Infectious Diseases

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and concerns about several other pandemics in the 21st century have attracted extensive global attention. These emerging infectious diseases threaten global public health and raise urgent studies on unraveling the underlying mechanisms of their transmission from animals to humans. Although numerous works have intensively discussed the cross-species and endemic barriers to the occurrence and spread of emerging infectious diseases, both types of barriers play synergistic roles in wildlife habitats. Thus far, there is still a lack of a complete understanding of viral diffusion, migration, and transmission in ecosystems from a macro perspective. In this review, we conceptualize the ecological barrier that represents the combined effects of cross-species and endemic barriers for either the natural or intermediate hosts of viruses. We comprehensively discuss the key influential factors affecting the ecological barrier against viral transmission from virus hosts in their natural habitats into human society, including transmission routes, contact probability, contact frequency, and viral characteristics. Considering the significant impacts of human activities and global industrialization on the strength of the ecological barrier, ecological barrier deterioration driven by human activities is critically analyzed for potential mechanisms. Global climate change can trigger and expand the range of emerging infectious diseases, and human disturbances promote higher contact frequency and greater transmission possibility. In addition, globalization drives more transmission routes and produces new high-risk regions in city areas. This review aims to provide a new concept for and comprehensive evidence of the ecological barrier blocking the transmission and spread of emerging infectious diseases. It also offers new insights into potential strategies to protect the ecological barrier and reduce the wide-ranging risks of emerging infectious diseases to public health.

Keywords: Ecological barrier; Emerging infectious diseases; Virus.

Fig. 1

Key factors of the ecological barrier to viral transmission from natural or intermediate hosts to human, including transmission routes, contact probability, contact frequency, and viral characteristics. Human activities can deteriorate the ecological barrier and intensify the emergence and spread of infectious diseases.

Fig. 2

Ecological barrier deterioration driven by human activities. The ecological barrier blocks the three main viral transmission routes (wild intermediate hosts, breeding animal hosts, and environmental media) from natural hosts to human society. Human activities deteriorate the ecological barrier through global climate change, intensive human invasions, growing human habitats, and urbanization. KFDV: Kyasanur forest disease virus.