Kendrick Wilson columnist

Most of the news coverage dedicated to diseases ÷ which pales in comparison to the coverage given to the most recent Hollywood marriage ÷ focuses on those affecting humans. A great deal of modern epidemics affect wildlife, including a number of endangered species. A small article in last Sunday's Arizona Daily Star, pointed out that wildlife, birds, fish, trees, and other plants are all victims of an increase in infectious diseases.

The article quoted Dr. Paul Epstein of Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and Global Environment as saying the same environmental conditions that brought higher infection rates to humans "are affecting emerging diseases in agriculture, forests, wildlife and marine ecosystems."

The more notable recent outbreaks affecting other species include a fungal disease suspected of wiping out large numbers of frogs and other amphibians, brucellosis; a wasting disease that has decimated bison herds in Yellowstone National Park; a fungus that has hit several species of California trees, and a mysterious bleaching disease that is driving some colonies of coral to the brink of extinction.

The article went on to point out how gorillas have been greatly affected by the Ebola virus, and an unknown infection has killed 95 percent of the vultures in India.

Indeed, disease remains one of the biggest problems for endangered manatees and mountain gorillas in Africa.

Dr. Elaine Marchello, coordinator of undergraduate programs in the UA's veterinary sciences and microbiology department, pointed out that when dealing with endangered species, a lack of genetic diversity presents a problem, especially when new diseases are present. "One of the things that happens when you have a limited population, is you have a lack of gene pooling," she said. "If you don't diversify the gene pool, you're going to concentrate the genes that contain the diseases. Endangered species are in such limited numbers that you have to be very careful how you breed."

The reasons for the increase in infectious diseases may never be known for sure, but some scientists believe humans could be at least partly to blame. As Sunday's Star reported, a variety of human activities that could be to blame include: people migrating into cities where germs are more freely transmitted, increasing populations of people living in poverty who lack the means to treat diseases, damming rivers thus increasing mosquito populations, and developing land occupied by wildlife and exchanging germs with other species.

Global climate change could also play a factor. West Nile and Hantavirus both began during severe droughts, which could have been caused by changing weather patterns due to global warming.

As the human population continues to explode, bigger cities, higher poverty rates due to limited resources, more exchange of germs between species, more damming of rivers, and more global climate change appear to be on the horizon.

Human overpopulation affects nearly every aspect of the environment ÷ including the quality of life for people ÷ and generally not for the better.

Simply because humans can reach unprecedented population levels doesn't mean we should. While we seem to be creating an environment in which human diseases are more prevalent, we are also creating an environment where diseases affecting other species are stronger and more fatal.

For many endangered species, the survival of the entire species could hinge on a single breeding season, or the survival of several breeding pairs. Many of the species we can most ill afford to lose are facing disease epidemics at the hands of human mismanagement of our global environment.

The time has come to address human overpopulation, not only for human survival, but to halt its devastating effects on so many other species.

Family planning programs have made great strides around the world, and must be expanded.

In the meantime, everyone aware of the news of increasing infectious disease outbreaks in both humans and other species must realize what is happening. This is not simply an omen of an ominous future decided by arbitrary whims of the gods. Rather, this is a warning that environmental factors we influence have reached a point where we should consider reversing our influence ÷ before it's too late.