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Almost half of traded wildlife carries disease-causing pathogens

More than 40% of traded mammalian species share at least one pathogen with humans, compared with only 6% of non-traded mammals.
By
  1. Claudia Steiner

Nearly half of all wild mammalian species traded for food, fur, research and traditional medicines carry at least one pathogen that causes disease in humans, estimates a study1 in Science, the first to quantify the role of the global wildlife trade in the transmission of pathogens.

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Nature 652, 844-845 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01121-7

References

  1. Gippet, J. M. W. et al. Science 392, 178–182 (2026).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Gibb, R. et al. BioScience 71, 1148–1156 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

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