Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41955375.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.adw5518.
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Abstract
The wildlife trade affects a quarter of terrestrial vertebrates and creates opportunities for cross-species pathogen transmission, but its precise role in shaping animal-human pathogen exchange remains unclear. In our analysis of 40 years of global wildlife trade data, we show that traded mammals are 1.5-fold as likely to share pathogens with humans as nontraded mammals, and that illegal and live-animal trade further exacerbate pathogen sharing. Time spent in trade predicts the number of zoonotic pathogens that a wildlife species hosts. On average, a species shares an additional pathogen with humans for every 10 years it is traded.
Medical subject headings
- Animals, Wild
- Mammals
- Wildlife Trade
- Zoonoses