(NewsNation) — With forests shrinking more and more and wildlife leaving in droves because of it, a recent study has found that mosquitoes are increasingly turning to humans for blood.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers, also suggests that because of deforestation, the insects have played a role in the increasing number of Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue fever and other diseases they pass on to humans.
Deforestation is the widespread, purposeful clearing of forest land, according to National Geographic. The study’s authors said it has decreased local populations of plants and animals while increasing human populations in the same areas.
Researchers said they found human blood in nine different types of mosquitoes from Brazil that they traced to an uninhabited area of land that used to be part of the Atlantic forest. Once covering 502,000 square miles, it has now shrunk to 29% of its original size because of deforestation.
At the same time, the reduced forests remove animals that would have otherwise slowed disease transmission in humans.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 17% of all infectious diseases are caused by transmission from insects like mosquitoes, ticks and flies. Biting insects cause more than 700,000 deaths around the world each year.
