NOVA: JOURNEY TO PLANET EARTH
Ecosystem Disruption and Emerging Infectious Diseases
DISEASE
PATHOGEN
Malaria
Plasmodium spp.
(protozoa)
Dengue Fever
Dengue Virus
Flavivirus
Cholera
Vibrio cholerae
(bacteria)
Yellow Fever
Yellow Fever
Virus
Flavivirus
Pfiesteria (algae)
and fungus
Fish Lesions
&
Human
effects
West Nile
Fever
(Encephalitis)
**
West Nile Virus
Arbovirus
HOST,
SOURCE or
RESERVOIR
VECTOR
Lake Victoria, Kenya
(endemic)
High mountain jungles
& Iquitos, Peru
(epidemic)
Iquitos, Peru
Mosquitos &
infected humans
Anopheles
(mosquito)
Overcrowding in urban areas with
adjacent agriculture provide ideal
conditions for breeding mosquitoes
Humans,
monkeys
Aedes aegypti
(mosquito)
Bangladesh (endemic)
Lima, Peru to
S.America to
N.America (epidemic)
Peru
Phytoplankton
Fecallycontaminated
water
Humans,
monkeys
None
Human encroachment
Mosquito breeds in stagnant water
found in manmade containers
Increases in water temperature
with plankton blooms (For Peru,
Chesapeake Bay
Brackish water
United States
Birds (crows,
blue jays, etc.)
GEOGRAPHIC
LOCATION**
Location described in this television show
ECOSYSTEM
DISRUPTION
Aedes aegypti
(‘yellow fever’
mosquito)
None known
Human encroachment
Mosquito breeds in stagnant water
found in manmade containers
Runoff of land-based pollution??
(agricultural wastes, pesticides,
industrial wastes, etc.)
Mosquito
Air travel with stowaway insects