Where in the World Have New Diseases Emerged?

"What new viruses are emerging in your backyard? 

If you’re a germaphobe, make sure you’re sitting down.

Back in 1999, a woman in California cleaned up rodent droppings in her home. Two weeks later, her liver started failing. Then she started to bleed internally — a hemorrhagic fever that would kill her. Eventually doctors found a new virus in her body, which very likely came from a rat.

A few years later, a man in Arizona went to the hospital. The skin on his legs was infected and dying. Doctors had to amputate. His diagnosis? A new kind of leprosy.

Over in the Midwest, the problem has been new tick-borne diseases, some deadly. And in New England, doctors are dealing with a disease that causes Lyme-like symptoms but is caused by a different bacteria.

The pattern continues across the country and across the world. A spike in new infectious diseases is the new normal.

      Another side effect of humanity’s conquest of the natural world."

source