Deforestation and Disease: More than just chopping down trees

The Amazon rainforest is being cut down, burned up, and destroyed in every way possible. And while you may not think that affects you, since you live in a different part of the world - think again! See, deforestation or the act of destroying forests affects everyone and everything on this planet in ways you probably never thought of before. Most of us link deforestation with oxygen and worse air quality, which is accurate, but it’s so much more harmful than that. When the trees go, the animals who lived in those trees have to go somewhere else. Often that means those displaced animals mesh with humans and cohabitate, creating new exposure. That’s where things get tricky because some animals can pass along diseases to humans, and believe it or not, in some instances, humans can give diseases right back to animals. This process is called zoonosis, and these diseases are known as zoonotic diseases.