Humans are creating hot spots where bats could transmit zoonotic diseases

pxfuel.com
Author
Jillian Kramer
Year
2021
Published in
National Geographic Society

A new map shows how human actions are affecting outbreak risks, sometimes in surprising places, which could be a valuable tool in preventing the next pandemic.

As human settlements creep ever closer to wildlife habitat, replacing swaths of forests with development and farmland, scientists fear those land-use changes could spur the evolution of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19. Areas that have seen dramatic transformations and are home to large bat populations, some scientists believe, could prove to be the starting point of the next coronavirus pandemic.

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