[ad_1]
July 6 marks World Zoonoses Day, the anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s first successful test of his rabies vaccine on a human subject. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across the world, active measures are needed to quell new outbreaks of zoonotic diseases.
For decades, scientists have warned about dangerous zoonoses – zoonotic diseases caused by germs that spread between animals and humans. From SARS to MERS and Ebola, many infectious diseases are transmitted by viruses of animal origin.
According to a report by the World Biodiversity Council, there are up to 1.7 million undetected viruses in the animal kingdom, of which 827,000 could infect humans. As humans and wildlife increasingly come into contact, COVID-19 is unlikely to be the latest pandemic in our globalized world.
Trade in wildlife with potential for zoonotic diseases
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, calls have been made to strictly regulate or completely ban the trade in wildlife. Wildlife markets are seen as potential “zoonotic hot spots” because different animal species are kept nearby, which facilitates the spread of dangerous viruses.
A zoonosis is an infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has passed from an animal to a human
Once it became clear that the novel SARS CoV-2 virus was of animal origin, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the closure of wildlife markets, particularly popular in Asia and Africa. .
China, which is the subject of particular criticism, temporarily banned all wildlife trade in January 2020, to last until the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the end, the ban didn’t last that long, with markets once again partially open. Yet the trade in exotic animals and food in China has declined dramatically.
Wild animals important for food and medicine
Wild animals play an important cultural, traditional and even nutritional role for many people. Plans to ban the trade or consumption of wild animals in general are unrealistic; and furthermore, strict bans are almost impossible to control, especially in areas with poor infrastructure or weak governance.
Regulating hygiene, or veterinary requirements for the trade and consumption of wild animals, might be a more effective strategy. It would also help to better understand the potential sources of danger.
Risk grids to identify hot spots
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) worked with scientists in Hong Kong to develop a tool to assess wildlife markets for future risks of zoonotic outbreaks. The risk matrix, published in the scientific journal One Health, will initially be used to analyze wildlife markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The sales situation on the respective market and the animal species or number of wild animals traded are taken into account.
The team investigated 46 wildlife markets in Laos and Myanmar. They showed a high zoonotic risk for about half of the days the researchers made their observations.
It is clear that there are wildlife markets that always appear to pose a high risk of zoonosis, said Stefan Ziegler, senior conservation adviser in Asia for WWF and one of the study’s authors.
Strict veterinary requirements versus ineffective bans
According to WWF, millions of wild animals are traded in the region each year for food or used in traditional medicine, including wild boars and deer, as well as rodents and bats, which are considered reservoirs. for a variety of pathogens.
Wild boar and deer are also eaten in Germany. “However, the trade in these products is subject to strict veterinary regulations,” Ziegler told the dpa news agency.
Preventing zoonoses, a global work
Stopping the illegal and unregulated wildlife trade is just as important as monitoring the wildlife markets, wildlife farms and restaurants where these meats are served, according to the environmental organization. In many places, the relevant authorities, who are supposed to monitor trade and enforce applicable law, are severely underfunded, WWF added.
Protecting against pandemics is a global task, according to WWF. The global community must provide targeted assistance to build national capacity for pandemic prevention, according to the international organization – and the risk matrix could help minimize the risks associated with legal wildlife trade.
This article was translated from German.
[ad_2]
Source link