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Environnement, Risques & Santé

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Pathogens and environmental changes: Present and future risks Volume 3, issue 3, Mai-Juin 2004

Authors
CNRS FRE 2635 « Écotoxicité, santé environnementale », Université de Metz, UFR Sciences fondamentales et appliquées, rue Général Delestraint, 57070 Metz <baudasciences.univ‐metz.fr>. CNRS UMR 5119 « Écosystèmes lagunaires », Université Montpellier 2, CC93, Pl E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05 <pmonfort univ‐montp2.fr>

Worldwide concern with infectious diseases encompasses those that are more or less new (for example, SARS, AIDS, legionnaire’s disease) as well as older diseases that persist stably or fluctuate, such as tuberculosis, bubonic plague, whooping cough, rabies, cholera, and plant and animal diseases. These pathogens ‐‐ bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, parasites ‐‐ are intimately connected with the environment, which can serve as source or vector for them. The environment, as modified by humans, affects their life cycle, growth, and survival and is in turn influenced by them. These various relations between pathogens and the environment, together with the factors involved in the emergence and re‐emergence of infectious diseases, are the topic of this review, which concludes by discussing perspectives for further research.