Traded animals more likely to share pathogens with humans, study says

50 percent of animals sold in the wildlife trade are responsible for at least one fatality to humans, according to a report on the damage caused by the industry.

In the study, trafficked animals were more likely to share pathogens with humans

Animals sold in the wildlife trade have a 50 percent chance of sharing at least one disease with humans, according to a historical analysis of the industry's spillover risks.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, examined more than 2,000 species of traded mammals and compared the data with international trade registries and detailed pathogen databases.

It found that 41 percent of traded mammals shared the same disease with humans, compared to 6.4 percent of species that were never bred, transported, bought or sold.Overall, commercial mammals were 1.5 times more likely to share pathogens with humans than their counterparts.

"It was surprising that there was such a clear signal between this trade and the number of pathogens shared between [mammals and] humans," said Dr. Jerome Gippet, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Friborg and lead author of the paper.

“This shows that trade is not just one of the factors that lead to the transmission of animal pathogens to humans – it is one of the most important elements,” he told the Telegraph.

The link between wildlife trade and the emergence of pathogens is not new.The industry - where many animals are often kept in cramped, unsanitary conditions - has been linked to many epidemics and pandemics.

The 2002-2003 Sars outbreak was traced to the civet trade, and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was caused by consumption or contact with bushmeat.While a World Health Organization committee did not rule out a laboratory leak, it also concluded last year that "the weight of available evidence" suggests that Covid-19 emerged after zoonotic spread.

But scientists who were not involved in the latest research say the Science paper is the most accurate attempt to measure the spillover risks caused by legal and illegal wildlife trade.

"I've never seen this kind of analysis of the wildlife trade before ... [but] the scale of the analysis gives it power," said Professor Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and virologist at the University of Sydney."[It] serves as another reminder of how bad business is from many angles."

Results are also subject to two threats: the weather and wet markets.

A 40-year analysis found that the threat of contagion increases over time, with mammalian species sharing additional pathogens with humans for every 10 years spent in global trade.

The researchers also found that species that were traded live were 34% more likely to share pathogens with humans.However, fishing showed little impact on surfing leadership.

Doctor.

“The wildlife trade is a faster route to disease than I thought,” he said.

Dr.Carlson added that the paper is important because it confirms existing hypotheses about why the wildlife trade is a risk — from interspecies mixing to poor conditions — and shows that these threats can be measured.

The next step is to use this data to better predict risks and develop strategies to reduce their impact, particularly surveillance and community education.The authors said the solution is unlikely to be a complete halt to the wildlife trade, which could drive the industry underground.

"Just because the risk is there, doesn't mean it's going to change," Dr.Carlson said."Although we have good evidence here that the wildlife trade as a general practice poses a risk to human health, that is very different from the evidence that wildlife bans benefit human health."

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