This article was published in April 2017 in the Philosophical Transactions B journal; it deals with the links between biodiversity and the prevalence of endemic pathogens.
Pathogens are part of biodiversity. Thus, when we conserve biodiversity, we notably preserve the pathogen diversity which plays many roles in ecosystems.
The article published this week reminds us that the existence of pathogens itself is not problematic but rather very useful, and that it represents a risk only under very particular conditions of exposure, sensitivity and other factors.
You can access it on the publisher’s website, as well as its abstract, through the opposite link.