- UF medical geographer Sadie Ryan, Ph.D. co-led largest comparative study on emerging infectious diseases ever conducted.
- Risk is highest where people live alongside nature, including landscapes with forests, farms and people.
- Outbreak reports fell 32% for every additional hour people had to travel to reach the nearest health care facility, suggesting that some outbreaks may go undetected in places with limited health care access.
Human activities are helping shape where new infectious diseases emerge, according to a new study co-led by University of Florida medical geographer Sadie Ryan, Ph.D.
Published in Nature, the study analyzed 58,318 outbreak events involving 32 diseases across 169 countries, making it one of the largest data-driven assessments of the environmental and social conditions may influence disease outbreaks.
Ryan co-led the international research team with scientists from University College London and Yale University. The UF team also included geography postdoctoral associate Catherine Lippi, Ph.D., and Jason Blackburn, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Geography. Both Ryan and Blackburn are principal investigators with UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute.
