Deforestation and civil disorder may promote the emergence of Paracoccidioidomycosis cases in the Amazon region. |
Infection occurs through inhalation of spores released by Paracoccidioides spp. that are found in the soil. Paracoccidioidomycosis outbreaks have been reported in areas with massive deforestation. In addition, civil disorders faced after climate change have already been associated with the emergence of Paracoccidioidomycosis. Amazon deforestation with soil removal can increase the exposure of people to spores, causing new disease outbreaks. Climate change resulting from Amazon deforestation may predispose different regions of Latin America to new Paracoccidioidomycosis outbreaks. |
Barrozo et al. (2010), Marques-da-Silva et al. (2012),do Valle et al. (2017) |
Mining activities cause profound environmental changes including water and soil pollution and deforestation, disrupting the ecological balance in the areas and increasing the incidence of infectious diseases. |
High prevalence of malaria and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome has been detected among gold miners in the Amazon region. Malaria transmission is associated with mining activity; this association is especially evident among people working in illegal gold mines. |
Bauch et al. (2015), Sanchez et al. (2017), Terças-Trettel et al. (2019) |
Emergence and re-emergence of arboviral diseases spreading from the Amazon forest to large Brazilian metropolitan areas. |
Emerging viral diseases vectored by arthropods, which are often under epizootiological equilibrium in non-human primate populations in the forest, may have their transmission facilitated to human settlers due to loss of habitats of the natural hosts and reallocation of primatophylic mosquitoes. These viruses may jump to urban areas from these first human cases. |
Rezende et al. (2018), Favoretto et al. (2019) |
Increase in the spread and impact of waterborne diseases. |
Lack of vegetation cover, recent urbanization, and alterations in the hydrological cycle may contribute to an enhanced spread of waterborne diseases. This is worsened due to the poor sanitary conditions both in small villages and in metropolitan areas in the region. Floods, extreme events and poor sanitary conditions may lead to epidemics of viral, bacterial and protozoal diseases. |
Martins et al. (2015), Vieira et al. (2016), Vieira et al. (2017) |
Presence of deforested areas, livestock, highways or mining. |
Increase in rabies outbreaks or bat attacks in animal or human population. |
Schneider et al. (2001), Carvalho-Costa et al. (2012), Fernandes et al. (2013), de Andrade et al. (2016) |
Deforestation followed by changes in water and soil physicochemical properties select fungi adapted to novel ecological niches. |
Deforestation will impact water and soil environments (for example, elevating temperature and altering pH). Fungi adapted to this novel ecological niche, which is similar to the high basal temperatures of mammals, could be selected promoting the emergence of novel pathogenic fungi. This has already been suggested for the rise of the environmental fungus Candida auris as a human pathogen on three continents, including South America, and has been suggested as contributing to the emergence of the known human pathogen Cryptococcus gattii, an ancient Amazon environmental fungus. |
Hagen et al. (2013),Lockhart et al. (2017),Casadevall et al. (2019) |
Presence of gold mining. |
Cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence increase in the human population. |
Rotureau et al. (2006) |
Fluctuation of prices of commodities, migrations and ecological impacts. |
The increase or decrease in prices of commodities can induce migration to and from the Amazon region, and these processes are associated with ecological impacts that can cause the spread of infectious diseases. For example, in the 1970s, a substantial increase in the international price of gold contributed to a considerable migration of gold diggers from Maranhão State to other states in the Amazon region. After the 1980s, a severe decrease in the price of this commodity resulted in the inverse migration and successive reintroduction of malaria in many different municipalities in Maranhão State. |
Becker (2004), Varga (2007) |
Presence of deforested areas. |
Increase the mean abundance and distribution of the Chagasdisease vector Rhodnius pallescens. |
Gottdenker et al. (2011) |
Deforestation-induced contact of humans with forest areas. |
Increase in leishmaniasis cases. |
Desjeux (2004), Alvar et al. (2006), Palatnik-de-Sousa & Day (2011) |
Deforestation and migratory flows can contribute to occurrence of acute Chagas disease cases. |
High deforestation and high density of acute Chagas disease were related to a possible adaptation process of Chagas disease to urban environments. The dynamics of occupation implied the formation of new urban and periurban centers in environmentally fragile areas and the occurrence of the disease by oral or vector transmission. Infection through the oral route is increasing, establishing a different epidemiological cycle. |
Sousa Júnior et al. (2017), Santos et al. (2018) |