Strong evidence between wildlife trade and zoonotic disease risks, says study
The Hindu
Offering insight that may help in developing planned measures to curtail future pandemics, a new paper shows that one-quarter of mammal species in wildlife trade host 75% of diseases known to transfer
Offering insight that may help in developing planned measures to curtail future pandemics, a new paper shows that one-quarter of mammal species in wildlife trade host 75% of diseases known to transfer between animals and humans. The paper, ‘Mammals, wildlife trade and the next global pandemic’ by wildlife trade and infectious diseases researchers from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), was published in the journal Current Biology. Researchers surveyed the association of 226 viruses responsible for zoonotic diseases with more than 800 mammal species distinguished into three categories: traded, non-traded, and domesticated mammals. Rodents and bats were previously identified as the significant players for disease transmission. The study also added primates and even-toed ungulates such as deer (often poached for their meat) and carnivores to the hot list. It shows that primates, bats, ungulates, and carnivores alone host 58% of the known zoonotic viruses present in the wildlife trade.More Related News