Wildlife trade and global disease emergence.
The global trade in wildlife provides disease transmission mechanisms that not only cause human disease outbreaks but also threaten livestock, international trade, rural livelihoods, native wildlife populations, and the health of ecosystems. Outbreaks resulting from wildlife trade have caused hundreds of billions of dollars of economic damage globally. Rather than attempting to eradicate pathogens or the wild species that may harbor them, a practical approach would include decreasing the contact rate among species, including humans, at the interface created by the wildlife trade. Since wildlife marketing functions as a system of scale-free networks with major hubs, these points provide control opportunities to maximize the effects of regulatory efforts.
Karesh
William B
WB
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York 10460, USA. wkaresh@wcs.org
Cook
Robert A
RA
Bennett
Elizabeth L
EL
Newcomb
James
J
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D017753:Ecosystem; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D015047:Zoonoses