The critical significance of habitat fragmentation and related human disturbances to disease emergence stems from it contribution to the disassembly of orderly natural communities. For example, human activities such deforestation, use of pesticides, and various forms of pollution often result in the loss of predators. In fact, carnivorous mammals typically are the first species to disappear following forest fragmentation. Their local extinction represents the loss of 'top down' natural control in ecological communities. This can in turn result is an increase in abundance, even 'hyper-abundance' (41) , of species such as rodents and biting insects.