Ecologists have begun to describe an environmental distress syndrome,
whereby widespread loss of top predators and harsh environmental condi
tions are encouraging the selection of opportunistic pests and pathoge
ns across a wide taxonomic range of plants and animals. Environmental
change and pollutants stress individuals and populations, and this may
be reflected in the global resurgence of infectious disease as these
stresses cascade through the community assemblages of species. In 1993
, the sudden appearance of a virulent, rodent-borne hantavirus in the
arid US Southwest accompanied anomalous weather patterns, and a novel
Vibrio cholerae variant (O139 Bengal) emerged in Asia where marine eco
systems are experiencing a pandemic of coastal algal blooms, apparentl
y harboring and amplifying the agent. This paper suggests a frame-work
for integrating the surveillance of health outcomes and key reservoir
and vector species, with ecological and climatic monitoring.