Cited by 267Zoonotic diseases and public healthParasite Biology and Host InteractionsClimate Change and Health Impacts

Global drivers of human pathogen richness and prevalence

Open access
Dunn, Robert R., Davies, T. Jonathan, Harris, Nyeema C., Gavin, Michael C.·2010·Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Abstract

The differences in the richness and prevalence of human pathogens among different geographical locations have ramifying consequences for societies and individuals. The relative contributions of different factors to these patterns, however, have not been fully resolved. We conduct a global analysis of the relative influence of climate, alternative host diversity and spending on disease prevention on modern patterns in the richness and prevalence of human pathogens. Pathogen richness (number of kinds) is largely explained by the number of birds and mammal species in a region. The most diverse countries with respect to birds and mammals are also the most diverse with respect to pathogens. Importantly, for human health, the prevalence of key human pathogens (number of cases) is strongly influenced by disease control efforts. As a consequence, even where disease richness is high, we might still control prevalence, particularly if we spend money in those regions where current spending is low, prevalence is high and populations are large.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1098/rspb.2010.0340

Cites

74 of 74 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dunn, R. R., Davies, T. J., Harris, N. C., & Gavin, M. C.
Affiliations
  • North Carolina State University (US)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
  • Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
Corresponding author
Dunn, Robert R.
Venue
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published
2010-04-14
Volume
277
Issue
1694
Pages
2587-2595
ISSN
  • 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
  • 0962-8452
  • 1471-2954
OpenAlex
W2159932081
Cited by
267
References
74
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 12
FWCI
13.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Zoonotic diseases and public health
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Parasite Biology and Host Interactions
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
Keywords
human pathogens, pathogen prevalence, climate, birds, mammals, disease control, global biodiversity, zoonoses
MeSH terms
Animals, Birds, Climate, Communicable Disease Control, Communicable Diseases, Humans, Mammals, Prevalence, Biodiversity

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review