Extension of a dilution effect to directly transmitted diseases has implications for conservation as well. Although protecting species diversity is a cause that would seem universal in its appeal, conservationists often are perceived as being overly biocentric and having little concern 1016 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 15 for human welfare. In addition, many benefits derived from maintaining diverse ecosystems are difficult for the layperson to decode and seem far removed from daily life such that despite scientific research, unparalleled loss of species caused by anthropogenic factors continues at an unabated rate. Conservation likely will not succeed without the support of the general public, who in turn influence the environmental policies our society embraces. To gain support of the general public, tangible human benefits from conservation should outweigh the immediate-usually economicgains of nonconservation land use (40) . Linking human health to biodiversity could be just the benefit for gaining the public's support of conserving biodiverse ecosystems. Protection from disease is a tangible objective; it is easily understood and translated and it has direct benefits for all. As a consequence, extension of a dilution effect to directly transmitted diseases could have broad conservation implications by raising the public's concern about conservation in a manner that has yet to be emphasized. Chinese-like Strain of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus, Thailand Since late 2007, several outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection have emerged in Thailand. Phylogenetic analysis places all Thai PEDV isolates during the outbreaks in the same clade as the Chinese strain JS-2004-2. This new genotype PEDV is prevailing and currently causing sporadic outbreaks in Thailand. , is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae. The PEDV genome contains genes for the following proteins: pol1 (P1), spike (S) (180-220 kDa), envelope (E), membrane (M) (27-32 kDa), and nucleocapsid (N) (55-58 kDa) (2) . The M protein is a structural membrane glycoprotein, which plays an important role in the assembly process; the S surface glycoprotein harbors the specific host cell receptor binding sites (3) .