Averting wildlife-borne infectious disease epidemics requires a focus on socio-ecological drivers and a redesign of the global food system

Appearance and re-appearance of zoonotic disease during the pandemic period: long-term monitoring and analysis of zoonosis is crucial to confirm the animal origin of SARS-CoV-2 and monkeypox virus

“…But, only about 200 of them can infect humans. Some of the previously reported deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, Marburg, HIV-AIDS, Nipah, Hendra, and West Nile have originated from wild animals ranging from pangolins to primates and bats to civets (Wegner et al 2022 ). Bats are the only true flying mammals, and they make up about one-quarter of all the known mammalian species in the world.…”

Human activities and zoonotic epidemics: a two-way relationship. The case of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…A key link in the transmission chain is the ‘intermediate’ hosts (wild, domestic animals, and arthropods) through which pathogens can evolve and pass from the ‘natural’ hosts to humans. Zoonotic diseases are also transmitted to animals and humans through the bite of arthropod vectors (mosquitoes, ticks, fleas) (Wegner et al, 2022) (Tables 2 and 3; Figure 1).

Figure 1.Schematic representation of transmission of zoonoses to humans.

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“…Transmission occurs through various ways (direct contact, indirect contact, carrier, consumption of contaminated food and water) and in multiple environments (urban centers, rural areas, trips, zoos, and open-air markets for the sale and consumption of wild animals) (Kock & Caceres-Escobar, 2022;Wegner et al, 2022) (Table 1).…”

Risk assessment and preventive health behaviours toward COVID-19 amongst bushmeat handlers in Nigerian wildlife markets: Drivers and One Health challenge

“…Although the risk of infections from wild meat hunting and handling along the supply chain is not quantifiable at present, zoonotic diseases have nonetheless emerged and re-emerged from these practices, often with immense public health and socio-economic consequences, as in the cases of the deadliest epidemic viral diseases like Ebola virus in Central and West Africa, and SARS coronavirus in China ( Leroy et al, 2004 ; Leendertz et al, 2016 ; Cui et al, 2019 ). Also, many international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have pointed to tropical wild meat hunting and trade as a key driver of emerging disease outbreaks and SARS-CoV-2 emergence that resulted in COVID-19 pandemic ( OIE, WHO, UNEP, 2021 ; Wegner et al, 2022 ).…”