Wildlife trade increases pathogen transmission: What 40 years of data say about spillover

Hedgehogs, elephants, pangolins, bears or fennec foxes: many wild species are sold as pets, hunting trophies, for traditional medicine, biomedical research, or for their meat or fur. These practices, whether legal or illegal, concern one-quarter of all mammal species. Now a study conducted at the Department of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne (Unil) quantifies the impact of wildlife trade on the exchange of germs and parasites between animals and humans. The work, titled "Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years," appears in Science.