From Pet Stores to Pandemics—How Wildlife Trade Helps Diseases Jump to Humans

From pet stores to pandemics—how wildlife trade helps diseases jump to humans

New research shows the global wildlife trade is rapidly accelerating the spread of animal pathogens that can jump to humans

How the wildlife trade carries disease-causing pathogens

The wildlife trade encompasses a lot, from pet sales to food and furs. However, a study from Science estimates that nearly half of traded wildlife carry at least one pathogen that can cause diseases among humans, making this the first to quantify the role of traded wildlife in pathogen transmission. Several disease outbreaks in humans