Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026
08:24
Inoculating Anopheles gambiae Mosquitoes with Beads to Induce and Measure the Melanization Immune Response
Published on: January 12, 2017
Animal migration and infectious disease risk
Sonia Altizer1, Rebecca Bartel, Barbara A Han
1Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. saltizer@uga.edu
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|January 22, 2011
Summary
Animal migrations impact disease spread, potentially reducing pathogen risks by habitat escape and evolution of less virulent strains. Further research is crucial for predicting future wildlife and human disease threats.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Epidemiology
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Migratory species are known reservoirs for zoonotic pathogens.
- Animal migration is often presumed to solely enhance pathogen transmission globally.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the complex role of animal migration in pathogen dynamics.
- To understand how migration influences disease spread, host susceptibility, and pathogen evolution.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research on animal migration and disease ecology.
- Analysis of factors influencing host-pathogen interactions during migration.
Main Results:
- Migration can reduce disease by enabling hosts to escape infected areas.
- Unsuccessful migration in infected animals can lower overall disease levels.
- Migratory stress may compromise host immunity, increasing susceptibility.
- Migration can drive the evolution of less virulent pathogens.
Conclusions:
- Animal migration presents a dual role in disease dynamics, with both potential for spread and mitigation.
- Understanding these dynamics is critical for predicting zoonotic disease risks under global change.
Related Concept Videos
00:53Migration
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
01:29Malaria
Malaria pathogenesis in humans reflects a delicate interplay between parasite biology and host response. Clinical illness reflects a host’s immune response to the parasite’s asexual replication cycle, which is often asymptomatic in individuals with partial immunity. From the parasite's perspective, transmission between mosquito and human with minimal host pathology is evolutionarily advantageous. Among the six Plasmodium species infecting humans, P. falciparum and P. vivax dominate in global...
01:28Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence
Infectious diseases appear in populations through various transmission patterns, influenced by pathogen characteristics, population immunity, environmental conditions, and social behavior. Understanding these patterns is essential for effective public health surveillance and intervention. These categories—sporadic, outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, and endemic—help frame the nature and scope of disease events.Sporadic diseases occur irregularly and infrequently, without a predictable temporal or...
01:24Transmission of Pathogens
Pathogens spread from their reservoirs to susceptible hosts through three main routes: contact transmission, vehicle transmission, and vector transmission. Each route involves distinct mechanisms of transfer.Contact TransmissionThis category includes direct contact, indirect contact, and droplet transmission:Direct contact involves immediate physical interaction between individuals—such as a handshake—which can spread pathogens like Streptococcus pyogenes, the bacterium responsible for...
01:30Reservoir of Infection
Infectious diseases arise from intricate interactions between pathogens and their reservoirs. A reservoir of infection refers to the natural habitat where a pathogen lives, grows, and multiplies, serving as a continual source of infection. Reservoirs are broadly classified as either living or nonliving, and each plays a unique role in disease transmission, significantly influencing public health interventions and control strategies.Humans act as reservoirs for a wide array of pathogens,...
00:57Viral Recombination
Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.