The lack of economic opportunities for local people also constrains them to degrade the environment as a means of sustenance. The presence of affluent ecotourists encourage the development of destructive markets in wildlife souvenirs, such as the sale of coral trinkets on tropical islands and animal products in Asia, contributing to illegal harvesting and poaching from the environment. In Suriname, sea turtle reserves use a very large portion of their budget to guard against these destructive activities. Eviction of indigenous people
Fortress conservation is a conservation model based on the belief that biodiversity protection is best achieved by creating protected areas where ecosystems can function in isolation from human disturbance. It is argued that money generated from ecotourism is the motivating factor to drive indigenous inhabitants off the land. Up to 250,000 people worldwide have been forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for conservation projects since 1990, according to the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. Mismanagement by government
While governments are typically entrusted with the administration and enforcement of environmental protection, they often lack the commitment or capability to manage ecotourism sites. The regulations for environmental protection may be vaguely defined, costly to implement, hard to enforce, and uncertain in effectiveness. Government regulatory agencies, are susceptible to making decisions that spend on politically beneficial but environmentally unproductive projects. Because of prestige and conspicuousness, the construction of an attractive visitors center at an ecotourism site may take precedence over more pressing environmental concerns like acquiring habitat, protecting endemic species, and removing invasive ones.
Immunohistochemical staining for antibodies against T. whipplei has been used to detect the organism in a variety of tissues, and a polymerase chain reaction-based assay is also available,  which can be confirmatory if performed on blood, vitreous fluid, synovial fluid, heart valves, or cerebrospinal fluid. PCR of saliva, gastric or intestinal fluid, and stool specimens is highly sensitive, but not specific enough, indicating that healthy individuals can also harbor the causative bacterium without the manifestation of Whipples disease, but that a negative PCR is most likely indicative of a healthy individual. Treatment
Treatment is with penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, or co-trimoxazole for one to two years. Any treatment lasting less than a year has a relapse rate around 40%. Expert opinion as of 2007 is that Whipples disease should be treated with doxycycline with hydroxychloroquine for 12 to 18 months. Sulfonamides (sulfadiazine or sulfamethoxazole) may be added for treatment of neurological symptoms. Epidemiology
The disease is regarded as extremely rare, with an incidence (new number of cases per year) of one case per million people. The patients are predominantly male (86% in a survey of American patients), although in some countries, the rate of women receiving a diagnosis of Whipples disease has increased in recent years. It occurs predominantly in those of Caucasian ethnicity, suggesting a genetic predisposition in that population. T. whipplei appears to be an environmental organism that is commonly present in the gastrointestinal tract, but remains asymptomatic. Several lines of evidence suggest that some defect—inherited or acquired—in immunity is required for it to become pathogenic.