Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health
Zoonotic diseases cause millions of deaths every year. Diseases such as Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and avian influenza cause economic losses at the global level and jeopardize diplomatic relations between countries. As wildlife are the source of at least 70% of all emerging dis...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418302312 |
| _version_ | 1819081614210105344 |
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| author | Özgün Emre Can Neil D'Cruze David W. Macdonald |
| author_facet | Özgün Emre Can Neil D'Cruze David W. Macdonald |
| author_sort | Özgün Emre Can |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Zoonotic diseases cause millions of deaths every year. Diseases such as Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and avian influenza cause economic losses at the global level and jeopardize diplomatic relations between countries. As wildlife are the source of at least 70% of all emerging diseases and given the on-going concerns associated with wildlife trade as a disease transmission mechanism, we provide a ‘global snapshot’ of the legal trade in live wild animals and take stock of the potential health risks that it poses to global human health. Our analysis showed that 11,569,796 individual live wild animals, representing 1316 different species were exported from 189 different countries between 2012 and 2016. China was the largest exporter of live mammals (with 98,979 animals representing 58.7% of global trade). Nicaragua was the largest exporter of live amphibians (with 122,592 animals representing 53.8% of global trade). South Africa was the largest exporter of live birds (with 889,607 animals representing 39.2% of global trade). Peru was the largest exporter of live reptiles (with 1,675,490 animals representing 18.8% of global trade). Our analysis showed that mostly the USA and other high-income countries, the largest importers, drive the live animal trade. High-income countries and not the countries where wildlife diseases and pathogens are more likely to occur reported almost all of the disease reports to the World Organisation for Animal Health. Based on our findings, we discuss how maximising trade bans; working on human behaviour change and improving regulatory efforts to improve surveillance will decrease the risk of future pandemics, epidemics and outbreaks. Keywords: Zoonotic disease, Wildlife trade, Pandemics, Epidemics, Outbreaks, Human health |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:03:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-967da8283fa54001a987bae5acdca7c2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T20:03:34Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-967da8283fa54001a987bae5acdca7c22022-12-21T18:51:55ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942019-01-0117Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human healthÖzgün Emre Can0Neil D'Cruze1David W. Macdonald2Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Oxford, OX13 5QL, UK; Corresponding author.World Animal Protection, 5th Floor, 222 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8HB, UKWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House, Oxford, OX13 5QL, UKZoonotic diseases cause millions of deaths every year. Diseases such as Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and avian influenza cause economic losses at the global level and jeopardize diplomatic relations between countries. As wildlife are the source of at least 70% of all emerging diseases and given the on-going concerns associated with wildlife trade as a disease transmission mechanism, we provide a ‘global snapshot’ of the legal trade in live wild animals and take stock of the potential health risks that it poses to global human health. Our analysis showed that 11,569,796 individual live wild animals, representing 1316 different species were exported from 189 different countries between 2012 and 2016. China was the largest exporter of live mammals (with 98,979 animals representing 58.7% of global trade). Nicaragua was the largest exporter of live amphibians (with 122,592 animals representing 53.8% of global trade). South Africa was the largest exporter of live birds (with 889,607 animals representing 39.2% of global trade). Peru was the largest exporter of live reptiles (with 1,675,490 animals representing 18.8% of global trade). Our analysis showed that mostly the USA and other high-income countries, the largest importers, drive the live animal trade. High-income countries and not the countries where wildlife diseases and pathogens are more likely to occur reported almost all of the disease reports to the World Organisation for Animal Health. Based on our findings, we discuss how maximising trade bans; working on human behaviour change and improving regulatory efforts to improve surveillance will decrease the risk of future pandemics, epidemics and outbreaks. Keywords: Zoonotic disease, Wildlife trade, Pandemics, Epidemics, Outbreaks, Human healthhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418302312 |
| spellingShingle | Özgün Emre Can Neil D'Cruze David W. Macdonald Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health Global Ecology and Conservation |
| title | Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| title_full | Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| title_fullStr | Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| title_short | Dealing in deadly pathogens: Taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| title_sort | dealing in deadly pathogens taking stock of the legal trade in live wildlife and potential risks to human health |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418302312 |
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