tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/wet-markets-82065/articlesWet markets – The Conversation2023-03-23T05:12:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2023442023-03-23T05:12:50Z2023-03-23T05:12:50ZChina’s only now revealed crucial COVID-19 origins data. Earlier disclosure may have saved us 3 years of political argy-bargy<p>Once more, we’re talking about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.</p>
<p>First the US Department of Energy’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/disputes-over-covids-origins-reveal-an-intelligence-community-in-disarray-here-are-4-fixes-we-need-before-the-next-pandemic-201166">review</a> gave more emphasis to the laboratory leak hypothesis than previously, although the confidence for this conclusion was low.</p>
<p>Second, and more importantly, is the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00827-2">release and analysis</a> this week of viral and animal genetic material collected from the Huanan wet market in Wuhan, the place forever associated with the beginning of the pandemic.</p>
<p>It’s a subject close to me. I was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-was-the-australian-doctor-on-the-whos-covid-19-mission-to-china-heres-what-we-found-about-the-origins-of-the-coronavirus-155554">Australian representative</a> on the international World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2. I went to Wuhan on a fact-finding mission in early 2021. I visited the now-closed market.</p>
<p>Now we have stronger evidence that places raccoon dogs at the market as a possible animal reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, potentially infecting humans.</p>
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<p>If we’d had this evidence three years ago, we need to ask ourselves how different recent history would have been. We would have reduced the enormous energy, media frenzy and political argy-bargy about less likely hypotheses of the pandemic’s origins. We might have better focused our research attention.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-origins-debate-what-to-make-of-new-findings-linking-the-virus-to-raccoon-dogs-202103">COVID origins debate: what to make of new findings linking the virus to raccoon dogs</a>
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<h2>The twists, turns and puzzles</h2>
<p>Samples were taken from various places in the market, in January 2020, within weeks of the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan. SARS-CoV-2 RNA and human DNA were identified in these environmental samples, although no animal swabs were positive for the virus. </p>
<p>This was presented to the WHO team investigating the origins of the pandemic in January 2021, of which I was part.</p>
<p>The work was <a href="https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1370392/v1_covered.pdf?c=1645813311">published as a preprint</a> (posted online, before being independently verified) in February 2022. </p>
<p>The underlying “metagenomic” data to support the conclusions in the preprint – that SARS-CoV-2 and human (but not animal) sequences were present – needed to be provided to allow further analyses. This is something that is generally required by journals and regarded as appropriate in the spirit of scientific openness and collaboration.</p>
<p>However, it wasn’t until early March 2023 that the international community had access to the data.</p>
<p>That’s when there was a “drop” of these environmental metagenomic sequences into the GISAID database, the international open access repository of viral sequences. </p>
<p>This allowed an independent team of international experts to analyse them. In a startling revelation, they identified large amounts of raccoon dog and other animal DNA in conjunction with SARS-CoV-2. Raccoon dogs can be readily infected with SARS-CoV-2 and can transmit it. The international team published their observations as a <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/7754299#.ZBu0NS8RqD8">preprint</a> earlier this week.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Racoon dog" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517124/original/file-20230323-20-ghfgx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Raccoon dogs can be readily infected with SARS-CoV-2 and can transmit it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/raccoon-dog-186941030">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Of note was the physical co-location of these virus and animal sequences in the corner of what is a very large market, the corner associated with <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-convened-global-study-of-origins-of-sars-cov-2-china-part">early human cases</a>. It is now known (but initially rejected by Chinese authorities) that wild and farmed animals were sold in this area of the market.</p>
<p>After the sequences were analysed by the international team, the Chinese scientists who had performed the market testing were contacted for comment and discussion – especially around the important observation that mixed in among the SARS-CoV-2 sequences were a large proportion of raccoon dog and other animal DNA. </p>
<p>The sequences were then withdrawn from the GISAID database within a few hours of the study authors being approached. This is perhaps unusual for an open database such as GISAID, and <a href="https://gisaid.org/statements-clarifications/data-availability/">clarity could be sought</a> why this occurred.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-covid-lab-leak-theory-is-dead-heres-how-we-know-the-virus-came-from-a-wuhan-market-188163">The COVID lab leak theory is dead. Here's how we know the virus came from a Wuhan market</a>
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<h2>Why is this work important?</h2>
<p>This latest work does not prove raccoon dogs were definitely the source of SARS-CoV-2. Presumably, they are likely to have been an intermediate host between bats and humans. Bats harbour many coronaviruses, including ones related to SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<p>However, the data fits the narrative of the animal/human connections of SARS-CoV-2. </p>
<p>This, along with <a href="https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0042-1759564">other examination</a> of animal links to SARS-CoV-2, should be taken in the context of the lack of robust data to support the other SARS-CoV-2 origins hypotheses, such as a laboratory leak, contaminated frozen food, and acquisition outside China. Bit by bit, the evidence supports animal origins of the outbreak, centred on the Huanan market in Wuhan. </p>
<p>The length of time taken for this early work to surface and the difficulty in accessing the raw data are unfortunate, <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/18-03-2023-sago-statement-on-newly-released-sars-cov-2-metagenomics-data-from-china-cdc-on-gisaid">points made recently</a> by the WHO.</p>
<p>Sympathetically, one might say, the wrong analysis of the original data collected in early 2020 was undertaken and the researchers missed the animal links. </p>
<p>Cynically, (and without evidence) one might say that the significance of the data was recognised, but not made readily available. This is a question for the Chinese researchers at the Chinese Center for Disease Control to answer.</p>
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<h2>What are the implications of this delay?</h2>
<p>If this had been identified in early 2020 then further studies to understand the viral origins in animals could have been undertaken.</p>
<p>Three years on, it is very difficult to do such studies, tracking backwards from the now closed market to the animal sources and the people who handled these animals. </p>
<p>Clearer answers would have taken some of the heat out of the debate around the possible viral origins. Of course, all hypotheses should remain on the table, but some of these could have been much better explored with earlier data. </p>
<p>Would it have changed the course of the pandemic? Probably not. The virus had already spread worldwide and adapted very well to human-to-human transmission by the time this work was available. However, it would have driven research in better directions and improved future pandemic planning.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disputes-over-covids-origins-reveal-an-intelligence-community-in-disarray-here-are-4-fixes-we-need-before-the-next-pandemic-201166">Disputes over COVID's origins reveal an intelligence community in disarray. Here are 4 fixes we need before the next pandemic</a>
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<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Lessons for the future are obvious. Open disclosure of sequence data is the best way to undertake scientific investigation, especially for something of such international significance. </p>
<p>Making data unavailable, or not reaching out for assistance in complicated analyses, only slows the process. </p>
<p>The resulting political to and fro by all countries, particularly the US and China, has meant that suspicion has deepened, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02263-6">progress slowed</a> even further. </p>
<p>Although WHO has been criticised for errors in how it managed the pandemic, and in collating data to understand the origins and progress future research, it remains the best international agency to foster open sharing of data. </p>
<p>Scientists, for the most part, want to do the right thing and find the answers to important questions. Facilitating this is crucial.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-was-the-australian-doctor-on-the-whos-covid-19-mission-to-china-heres-what-we-found-about-the-origins-of-the-coronavirus-155554">I was the Australian doctor on the WHO's COVID-19 mission to China. Here's what we found about the origins of the coronavirus</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Member of the 2021 WHO Study of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2 group, Wuhan 2021</span></em></p>Evidence is mounting for links to animals at the Wuhan wet market. But we’ve wasted a lot of time and energy getting here.Dominic Dwyer, Director of Public Health Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1489582020-10-29T14:55:43Z2020-10-29T14:55:43ZThree ways to head off the next pandemic in the wild meat trade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366425/original/file-20201029-17-1ly4gwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C522%2C6016%2C3485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tomohon-indonesia-02-19-2020-grilled-1689513163">Happy Auer/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As much as <a href="https://www.oie.int/doc/ged/d14089.pdf">70% of the infectious diseases</a> that emerged in humans over the last 30 years were zoonotic, which means they were caused by pathogens which originated in domestic or wild animals. Nearly 1.7 million undiscovered viruses may <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536">exist in wildlife</a>. Despite these alarming numbers, epidemics are still relatively rare events. But, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear we can no longer ignore the potential threat of diseases which spill over from wildlife to humans.</p>
<p>As outbreaks of diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, SARS and HIV have shown, the costs of addressing zoonoses pale in comparison with the impact of epidemics on human lives and economies. As people degrade natural habitats and intensify livestock production and trade, we risk yet more outbreaks. Preventing, detecting and responding to future pandemics is possible, and one of the key battlegrounds in this effort is the wild meat trade – food consumed by millions of people, especially in the tropics and subtropics, from animals hunted in the wild. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://bit.ly/3mrIW4H">new report</a> launched during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSKlY1qyCF0&feature=youtu.be">Global Landscape Forum Biodiversity Conference</a>, we analysed the latest knowledge and provided recommendations on how to keep one step ahead of the next epidemic. They included:</p>
<h2>1. Reduce wild meat demand in cities</h2>
<p>When thousands of millions of urbanites have access to wild meat, not only are animal populations likely to be more depleted, but it’s also possible that at least one person will be infected by a pathogen of wildlife origin and transmit it in densely populated areas. </p>
<p>Reducing the demand for wild meat in cities requires a combination of marketing, to convince people that wild meat risks more zoonotic outbreaks, and to ensure there are alternative sources of protein, such as chicken and other domestic meat. This is especially important in provincial towns, near where wild meat is sourced, where options are more limited. </p>
<p>Where the trade is legal, enforcing selective bans on the sale of live or fresh wildlife will probably be more effective than permanent, blanket bans. Bans should target animals that present a higher risk of spillover too, such as bats, rodents and primates, which are generally suspected to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/pets-livestock-and-wildlife-can-all-catch-coronavirus-does-that-make-them-dangerous-144440">possible reservoir species</a>.</p>
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<img alt="Several fruit bats hang upside down from tree branches." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366428/original/file-20201029-15-1476wg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Reservoir species host infectious pathogens within their populations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fruit-bats-hanging-tree-hwange-national-1713835057">HandmadePictures/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>2. Bring in wildlife experts</h2>
<p>Human, animal and environmental health are intimately connected. In the past, physicians and veterinaries might discuss how to limit outbreaks and work together on solutions. But it is time that biologists, and people working in the forestry, wildlife and environment sectors – such as park rangers and field veterinarian – were consulted on where the next zoonotic outbreak is likely to occur.</p>
<p>At the moment, systems for tracking and acting on emerging pathogens in the wild meat trade are almost non-existent. But the trade crosses national borders. Surveillance systems that include a combination of health and public sector experts and frontline professionals are needed to allow for a rapid response.</p>
<p>Only by sustainably managing habitats, assessing them for disease risks from multiple angles, and controlling the wildlife trade can we expect to make progress on public health issues.</p>
<h2>3. Improve legislation</h2>
<p>If policies on food safety and health are to be effective, they need to be socially accepted. That means regulating the use of wildlife, while also ensuring the millions of people dependent on wild meat for food and income have alternatives to turn to. It’s <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cfa/ifr/2011/00000013/00000003/art00008">estimated</a> that five million tonnes of wild meat is eaten per year in the Congo basin, and some 1.3 million tonnes in the Amazon.</p>
<p>When habitats are fragmented, it brings people, livestock and wildlife into closer contact, raising the risk of zoonoses spilling over. Currently, around 70% of the world’s remaining forest cover is within one kilometre of the <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/2/e1500052">forest’s edge</a> and, as a result, is at high risk of being depleted and degraded further. By legally recognising the territorial rights of Indigenous peoples and communities local to forests, we can protect habitats and limit the exchange between wildlife and encroaching urban settlements.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-indigenous-cultures-is-crucial-for-saving-the-worlds-biodiversity-123716">Protecting indigenous cultures is crucial for saving the world’s biodiversity</a>
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<p>It is also important to bring in legislation that will make the wild meat trade as hygienic as possible. Hunters and tradespeople can take the lead on this, by making sure all traded wild meat is thoroughly smoked or dried.</p>
<p>The world is facing a life-changing situation that calls for each country to adapt and prepare for future epidemics. Global measures and coordinated efforts can help us better understand why infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge, and how to stop them in their tracks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia E. Fa received funding from the EU through the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, an initiative led by the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). The report was prepared by specialists from the four partner organisations implementing the SWM Programme, namely FAO, CIRAD, CIFOR and WCS.</span></em></p>Needed: less wild meat in cities, more wildlife experts in public health.Julia E. Fa, Professor of Biodiversity and Human Development, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387352020-05-26T09:06:46Z2020-05-26T09:06:46ZBanning bushmeat could make it harder to stop future pandemics<p>Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, eating the meat of wild animals has been getting a bad press. </p>
<p>Last month, more than 300 conservation groups signed an <a href="https://lioncoalition.org/2020/04/04/open-letter-to-world-health-organisation/">open letter</a> asking the World Health Organization (WHO) to take measures to prevent new diseases emerging from wild animals. This included banning the sale of wild animal meat, also known as bushmeat. The request stemmed from evidence that SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a wild animal, probably a species of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7">bat</a>, before jumping to an intermediate host, possibly a <a href="https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part1">pangolin</a>, and then infecting a human. </p>
<p>Although exactly where the first person picked up the virus is hotly contested, the media and researchers have focused on China’s wet markets, particularly those selling wild animals and their meat. At these markets, finding civet cats, turtles, bats and pangolins kept alive in small cages, often in close proximity, is not uncommon. In such conditions, wild animals can incubate diseases that later <a href="https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-020-00366-4">spill over into humans</a>.</p>
<p>In response, the Chinese government has issued a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/asia/china-coronavirus-wildlife-consumption-ban-intl-hnk/index.html">temporary ban on farming, selling and eating wild animals</a>, and many – including the United Nations biodiversity chief, <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/digest/un-biodiversity-chief-argues-for-a-permanent-ban-on-wildlife-markets">Elizabeth Maruma Mrema</a> – have urged Beijing to make this ban permanent.</p>
<p>But a truly successful ban on the sale of bushmeat in China may not even be possible. And if upheld, it could hinder rather than help the prevention of further pandemics. Here’s why.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Live turtles on display at the Chaoyang wet market, Zhuhai, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/logatfer/8246155604/in/photolist-dyFGLC-EbyMV3-9maYmj-6nMLYq-5kusCo-8oT4o1-53LNLR-9m7TS6-4VgC9j-bk9Cco-4VgCYw-WKevdD-94zyX-bqqbrW-bk9Ccw-ZPfXA-obCnjK-4Vcyjr-VvHHHx-9m7Twx-dWia1n-94zrR-6nHC4Z-aBF5gu-6nHCgi-ZPgam-2giy9dv-N6LyK-gBhuAk-5frnAQ-ZJQKX-29YPLtq-WFBrtf-EFGkvL-29fqdvH-k5nrPa-6nHAWx-WKeJLR-26uF16w-9cHme8-W9TR2L-9ow8db-9cHmNp-WxyaCB-Wxy9nv-9cHmyn-ejkYwQ-DzLTx1-NWDwJh-285XYFJ">David Boté Estrada/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Outlawing bushmeat is trickier than it looks</h2>
<p>Previously adopted behavioural change campaigns, policy lobbying and law enforcement have failed to reduce the consumption of wild animals over the past 10 years. And this is not only in <a href="https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/will-china-say-no-wildlife-trade">China</a>, but in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361730758X">West Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sbstta/sbstta-21-wg8j-10/CIFOR-CBD-wildmeat-info-doc-review-en.pdf">South America</a> too.</p>
<p>Bushmeat is popular. Consumers believe that eating wild animals is <a href="https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5506-Eating-habits-in-south-China-driving-endangered-animals-to-extinction-">normal, respectful of traditions, medicinal and even healthy</a>. Part of the problem in China specifically is that wild animal products form an integral part of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reference/traditional-chinese-medicine/">traditional Chinese medicine and in supplementing diets</a>. </p>
<p>For some, bushmeat is consumed daily as the only accessible and affordable protein source. For others, it’s a luxury product, enjoyed to celebrate special occasions or to <a href="https://time.com/5770904/wuhan-coronavirus-wild-animals/">boost health</a>. In fact, the attraction of wet markets isn’t so different from that of farmers’ markets in western countries. </p>
<p>Because of bushmeat’s cultural value, taking away the choice to consume it permanently would probably be resisted. It would also likely encourage unregulated underground markets.</p>
<p>This happened in the West African Ebola outbreak in 2013-16, where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361730758X">underground markets for bushmeat</a> began to appear <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156359/better-way-stop-coronaviruses">after it was banned</a>. And this is being seen during the temporary ban in China too, as some sellers have started dealing online instead. In February alone, 140,000 webpages and 17,000 online trader accounts relating to the sale of bushmeat or wild animal parts for medicinal use <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/illegal-wildlife-trade-online-china-shuts-markets-200324040543868.html">were removed, deleted or blocked by China’s State Council</a>. </p>
<p>The emergence of online markets <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-animals-china-vietnam-wildlife-ban-wet-markets-disease-pandemic-a9410236.html">increases the risk of further disease outbreaks</a> due to the increased and untraced movement of bushmeat across the country. The movement of wildlife meat is known to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029505">spread pathogens to new areas</a>. More needs to be done to stop this.</p>
<h2>How to reduce the danger of bushmeat</h2>
<p>Before any working long-term ban can be introduced, enforced and followed in China, there’s a lot that needs to happen. </p>
<p>The Chinese government and the WHO will need to develop policies and guidelines on the risks involved with collecting, handling and consuming bushmeat. They’ll also need to restrict the number of species allowed to be sold and consumed – and stick to this. The Chinese government <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(06)70676-4/fulltext">banned the consumption of civet cats</a> following the Sars outbreak, for instance, but later <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/china-bans-wildlife-trade-after-coronavirus-outbreak/">overturned the ban</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of a ban on all wildlife, the government could consider increasing regulations around the trade of certain species that pose the highest risk. It could also, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156359/better-way-stop-coronaviruses">as some have suggested</a>, provide seeds for agriculture and fish for aquaculture, to lessen the reliance on bushmeat as a food source.</p>
<p>The government will also have to increase consumer education and food safety standards, and provide alternative livelihoods to hunters and market traders. </p>
<p>It will also be crucial to develop new surveillance systems that track, isolate and contain emerging infectious diseases in wild animals, before they have the opportunity to affect humans. Lessons can be learned from the PREDICT programme, run by the United States Agency for International Development, which used broad surveillance to hunt for dangerous pathogens in animals. Between 2009 and 2019, it collected over 140,000 biological samples from animals, finding over 1,000 new viruses, <a href="https://ohi.sf.ucdavis.edu/what-weve-found">including a new strain of Ebola</a>.</p>
<p>But most importantly, authorities will have to understand the role of bushmeat in local contexts, specifically the practices and behaviours around its collection and consumption. They will then need to design tailored interventions that can reduce communities’ reliance on wild animal products. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005450">researchers studying the socioeconomics of bushmeat during the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic</a> found that to lessen reliance on it, we should concentrate on improving jobs and access to quality protein sources, rather than focus on the meat itself.</p>
<p>If we are to successfully reduce the risk of further pandemics, we must therefore acknowledge the importance of the social dynamics of wild animal consumption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Bowmer receives funding from the UK’s National Institute for Health Research. </span></em></p>A full ban on eating wildlife in China probably isn’t possible, and could encourage unregulated underground markets.Alex Bowmer, Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1388722020-05-24T12:22:36Z2020-05-24T12:22:36ZCoronavirus shows we must get serious about the well-being of animals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336107/original/file-20200519-152292-1wvlkst.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4288%2C2830&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Industrial animal agriculture in our own backyard could very well be the cause of the next pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 raises crucial questions about how best to move forward from the pandemic and its many effects. We are reassessing key political and economic assumptions and perceptions of what is possible and desirable.</p>
<p>Basic income guarantees, public child care, loan forgiveness and other programs are laudably being considered as we recognize the fragility and interconnectedness of our socioeconomic web, and grapple with how to prevent future harm.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/job-guarantees-basic-income-can-save-us-from-covid-19-depression-133997">Job guarantees, basic income can save us from COVID-19 depression</a>
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<p>We also need to take animals seriously. Our families, communities and society include animals. There are inspiring, mutually beneficial and <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/diabetic-alert-dogs-meet-their-owners-for-the-first-time-in-oakville-1.4178817">even life-saving</a> ways we engage with other animals. But animal suffering not only harms other species, it endangers our own. This is a significant ethical and moral matter. It is also fundamental to the future of our economic, environmental and physical health.</p>
<p>This is not about vegans versus omnivores, or pitting cities against rural cultures. This is about humans and the future of life on Earth.</p>
<h2>Consumption of animals</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/10/21216165/pandemic-prevention-sciencetist-animal-human-health-disease">Science tells us</a> that whether the next lethal pathogens are viral or bacterial, people will likely get them from consuming animals. And the scary truth is that we are exacerbating both threats.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336117/original/file-20200519-152284-1g1k01m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Civets are thought to have played a role in the SARS outbreak.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
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<p>There are <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/coronaviruses-often-start-in-animals-heres-how-those-diseases-can-jump-to">millions of viruses inside animals</a> that humans never encounter — until people <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/05/these-scientists-saw-covid-19-coming-now-theyre-trying-to-stop-the-next-pandemic-before-it-starts/">touch and consume</a> <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1128%2FMMBR.00004-08">those animals</a>. We do not have vaccines for virtually any of these viruses.</p>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2105%2FAJPH.2015.302870">Antibiotic resistance</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/antibiotic-resistance-mutation-rates-and-mrsa-28360/">strengthened bacterial infections</a> are also significant challenges. A major reason is that overcrowded factory-farmed animals are <a href="http://www.fao.org/antimicrobial-resistance/key-sectors/animal-production/en/">given antibiotics</a> when they’re not sick. Industrial animal agriculture in our own backyard could very well be the cause of the next pandemic.</p>
<p>What do we do about these chilling realities? We have to start taking animals’ presence and well-being seriously. There are many important policies and paths worth considering; three are particularly salient.</p>
<h2>Stop exotic animal trade</h2>
<p>First, we need to curb the trade in exotic animals. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336125/original/file-20200519-152344-1p1rbwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Monkeys are among the exotic animals that are shipped across borders. Squirrel monkeys are seen here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
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<p>Millions of animals, from <a href="https://www.worldanimalprotection.ca/sites/default/files/media/ca_-_en_files/wap_exotic_pets_in_canada_report_final_forweb_oct_3_2019.pdf">snakes to turtles and monkeys</a>, are taken from the wild and shipped across borders for pet ownership, entertainment, consumption and research. </p>
<p>Much of this is currently legal, despite the risks of zoonotic (animal to human) virus transmission. The stakes are too high and the health landscape too fraught for this to continue. </p>
<p>It’s never been good for the animals, and it’s not safe for us. More robust national restrictions are needed, along with enforcement.</p>
<h2>Industrial agriculture</h2>
<p>Similarly, we must confront the dangers of industrial animal agriculture head on. </p>
<p>The industrialization and corporatization of animal agriculture hasn’t helped our health or our rural communities. The number of farms continues to plummet as family farms are replaced by large, highly automated corporate facilities that often trap and overcrowd animals in cauldrons of disease. </p>
<p><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170510/dq170510a-eng.htm">Statistics Canada</a> reports that there are now only 193,492 farms in this country. In 1996, there were close to <a href="http://forecastinstitute.com/documents/Farm-Size-Historical-Review-2019-03.pdf">300,000.</a> </p>
<p>As author Jonathan Safran Foer and food academic Aaron S. Gross put it, the intensive confinement of chickens in particular is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/20/factory-farms-pandemic-risk-covid-animal-human-health">Silicon Valley</a> of dangerous viral development and mutation. Nearly <a href="https://www.animaljustice.ca/blog/canada-slaughtered-834-million-animals-in-2019">800 million chickens were killed</a> in Canada last year.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336131/original/file-20200519-152344-1kjwd2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Chickens appear at a chicken house near Livingston, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)</span></span>
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<p>And it has become unequivocally clear in recent weeks that contemporary <a href="https://sentientmedia.org/slaughterhouses-where-animal-rights-and-workers-rights-suffer-in-symphony/">slaughterhouses</a> are dangerous <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/3rd-covid-19-death-cargill-meat-processing-plant-high-river-1.5565265">for workers</a>, in addition to being fatal horror shows for animals.</p>
<p>It’s time for bolder <a href="https://plantbasedpolicy.ca/what-we-do/">public policy</a> that cultivates more sustainable agriculture, plant-based foods and drinks, and <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-researchers-aim-lower-cost-make-lab-grown-meat">lab-grown meat</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/lab-grown-dairy-the-next-food-frontier-117963">and milk</a>. Canada has already proven to be fertile ground for innovative product development and plant-based proteins. In fact, producers of pulse crops (lentils, chick peas) <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/growing-strong-570199042.html">are thriving</a>, not seeking public handouts.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-business-as-usual-for-vegan-businesses-99802">It's not business as usual for vegan businesses</a>
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<p>We need a thoughtful transition to more sustainable <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/11/jonathan-safran-foer-meat-is-not-essential-why-are-we-killing-it/?arc404=true">and safer</a> forms of food production that create <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kendra-coulter/humane-jobs_b_11000160.html">good, humane and sustainable jobs</a>. This will involve the private sector, but public and labour leadership and investment are also urgently needed.</p>
<p>Although its infection-transmission risks are significantly lower, plant-based agriculture still needs to be approached sensibly. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-reveals-the-necessity-of-canadas-migrant-workers-136360">migrant workers</a>, who make so much fruit and vegetable cultivation possible, deserve basic labour rights, <a href="https://theconversation.com/migrant-farm-workers-vulnerable-to-sexual-violence-95839">safety</a>, proper housing and personal protective equipment at the absolute minimum.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-reveals-the-necessity-of-canadas-migrant-workers-136360">The coronavirus reveals the necessity of Canada's migrant workers</a>
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<h2>One Health</h2>
<p>Third, we should embrace the concept of <a href="https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-health/2017/11/03/a-one-health-approach-can-benefit-humans-animals-and-the-environment/">One Health</a> — the recognition that human, animal and environmental health are inextricably connected. The idea of <a href="http://onehealth.usask.ca/about/index.php/">One Health</a> should figure in our personal consumption choices as well as our political decisions. </p>
<p>In education, health, law enforcement, food, care and every other sector, One Health should be at the heart of thoughtful, responsive and pro-active policy-making and practice. </p>
<p>Similarly, there are clear opportunities to learn from Indigenous perspectives on <a href="https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/indigenous-ideas-about-living-well-can-help-heal-the-planet">integrated well-being</a>. </p>
<p>The animals deserve better, and so does our species. A simple return to the status quo is not only unjust, it is dangerous.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138872/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra Coulter receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Animal suffering not only harms other species, it endangers our own. Here’s how we can do better.Kendra Coulter, Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence; Chair of the Labour Studies Department; Member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists; Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1380202020-05-15T23:20:15Z2020-05-15T23:20:15ZYes, we need a global coronavirus inquiry, but not for petty political point-scoring<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335289/original/file-20200515-138654-1qywola.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1872%2C1039&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rey Moon/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The US government’s call for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic has a clear political motive: to shift the blame for its own failure to respond effectively to the epidemic within its own borders. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-01/donald-trump-confident-coronavirus-originated-in-wuhan-lab/12204108">finger-pointing</a> by the Trump administration, and by US allies including Australia, has prompted China to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-26/coronavirus-china-slams-australia-over-independent-inquiry/12185988">refuse to cooperate</a>. </p>
<p>This is unfortunate, because it is in everyone’s interest to work together, not to question China’s handling of the crisis but to discover the factors that cause new infections so we can avert future disasters.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/murky-origins-why-china-will-never-welcome-a-global-inquiry-into-the-source-of-covid-19-136713">Murky origins: why China will never welcome a global inquiry into the source of COVID-19</a>
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<p>We need to understand how SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, came into existence, and to look at how and when we might have been able to impede its progress. </p>
<p>This means examining the origins of the virus and the biological and environmental factors that allowed it to become so dangerous. To achieve this, an international, collaborative scientific investigation free from recriminations and narrow political agendas is needed.</p>
<h2>What we know so far</h2>
<p>Extensive scientific data have shown that SARS-CoV-2 was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9">not deliberately engineered</a> and there was no conspiracy to create an epidemic. It did not originate in or escape from a laboratory, in Wuhan or anywhere. The <a href="https://www.livescience.com/first-case-coronavirus-found.html">first human cases</a> of COVID-19 did not come from the Wuhan wet market but from elsewhere in China, possibly outside Hubei province altogether.</p>
<p>In fact, the disease did not “originate” in a market at all, although an <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext">important spreading event</a> linked to the Wuhan market did occur that brought it to the attention of Chinese public health authorities.</p>
<p>SARS-CoV-2 almost certainly descended from an animal virus that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9">underwent a series of mutations</a> that made it dangerous to humans. The path to humans probably involved intermediate animal hosts, although which animals <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/mapping-the-spread-of-a-deadly-disease">remains uncertain</a>.</p>
<p>So here is the most likely sequence of events: a coronavirus in a bat found its way into one or more other animal hosts, possibly including a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1008421">pangolin</a> or some kind of cat, somewhere in southern China. At that time, the virus could not infect or cause noticeable disease in humans, or else the animals infected had little contact with humans. Over an unknown period of time (possibly decades) the virus mutated in a way that made it highly dangerous and eventually, by chance, a human became infected, probably in about the second week of November 2019.</p>
<p>The new virus was quickly passed on to other people and found its way to Hubei province. On December 10, an infected individual visited the crowded market in Wuhan and was responsible for infecting 21 other people. Over the following two weeks, enough people became sick to alert doctors and public health officials, leading to an <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen">announcement on December 31</a> warning the world of the dangerous new disease. The market was closed the following day and vigorous efforts were made to identify and isolate contacts.</p>
<p>Three weeks later it was clear these measures could not contain the epidemic, and on January 23 Chinese authorities took the brave and unprecedented step of locking down the entire city. This controlled the spread of the virus in China, but it was too late to stop the spread internationally, because by that time the virus was already present in Taiwan, South Korea, Europe and the United States.</p>
<h2>What we don’t know yet</h2>
<p>What we now have to find out is what happened in the months or years leading up to November 2019 and whether, in retrospect, anything could have been done to prevent the disaster.</p>
<p>It is crucial we understand the evolution of this virus because, as with all human diseases that emerge from animals, it will have occurred as a result of both random biological events and responses to environmental pressures. The virus had to mutate, the original wild animal had to be exposed to other species, and the virus had to spread within that species and undergo further <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/virus-mutation">mutations</a>. The animal had to come into close contact with a human who, at the right moment, has to contract the new infection.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-viruses-mutate-and-jump-species-and-why-are-spillovers-becoming-more-common-134656">How do viruses mutate and jump species? And why are 'spillovers' becoming more common?</a>
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<p>Despite the low probability of each individual step, in recent decades a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/07/30/4056579.htm">long list of viruses</a> has negotiated this entire pathway, including HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Nipah, Lassa, Zika, Hendra, various types of influenza, and now SARS-CoV-2. This suggests new factors are increasing the chances of exposure, adaptation, infection and spread.</p>
<p>It is likely these factors include population growth, agricultural expansion, the loss of natural wild animal habitat, the loss of traditional food sources, and changing relationships between animal species and between <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-are-to-blame-for-the-rise-in-dangerous-viral-infections-94747">animals and humans</a>. Deforestation and climate change <a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/coronavirus-climate-change-and-the-environment">further exacerbate this process</a>, as does increased movement of human populations, through domestic and international travel. The international illegal wildlife trade, inappropriate use of drugs and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/why-insect-populations-are-plummeting-and-why-it-matters">insecticides</a>, and reluctance of governments to work together make matters even worse.</p>
<p>Knowing exactly how these factors affect the genetics and evolution of viruses will help us find ways to thwart them. We could develop a coordinated early warning system to identify and track <a href="http://www.emro.who.int/fr/about-who/rc61/zoonotic-diseases.html">potentially dangerous pathogens</a>, and monitor interactions between species that could transmit them. We could preserve native habitats and reduce the pressure on wild animals to enter human habitats in search of food. We could strategically cull animals that act as reservoirs for dangerous viruses.</p>
<p>We could precisely target infection control procedures such as health monitoring and quarantine. We could work together to develop diagnostic tests, new drugs and vaccines. We could develop globally coordinated rapid response plans for when new outbreaks arise.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-shines-a-light-on-fractured-global-politics-at-a-time-when-cohesion-and-leadership-are-vital-134666">Coronavirus shines a light on fractured global politics at a time when cohesion and leadership are vital</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>This process will only work if undertaken with openness, trust, and an acknowledgement that it is in the entire world’s best interest. It will only work if we accept that viruses are not national problems or sovereign responsibilities, but global challenges.</p>
<p>COVID-19 should be a wake-up call that petty recriminations, ideological rivalries and short-sighted political ambitions must be set aside. The countries of the world must encourage China and the United States to raise their sights to the greater challenge and help conduct the investigation we need to avert future disaster. </p>
<p>It is urgent, because the next pandemic may already be incubating somewhere in the world at this very moment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Upshur receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Health Canada, AMS Foundation, PSI Foundation. All of these are for peer reviewed research grants unrelated to the content of this article.
I am co-chair of the WHO COVID-19 Ethics Working Group</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Kerridge and Paul Komesaroff do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US and its allies are demanding answers over how COVID-19 became a pandemic. But instead of pointing fingers at China, the inquiry should focus on scientific clues to help us thwart future disasters.Paul Komesaroff, Professor of Medicine, Monash UniversityIan Kerridge, Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of SydneyRoss Upshur, Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364472020-04-29T17:03:48Z2020-04-29T17:03:48ZCovid-19 or the pandemic of mistreated biodiversity<p>The whole world has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic – we all fear for our own health, that of our loved ones and also those who are most vulnerable. In the span of just a few weeks, Covid-19 suddenly become more urgent than the crises of ongoing climate change or the dangerous decline in biodiversity. Catastrophic events that once monopolised world attention, such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/bushfires-1377">forest fires in Australia</a>, suddenly seemed less serious than a pandemic that could touch all of us, immediately, in our own homes. </p>
<p>However, like other major epidemics (AIDS, Ebola, SARS, etc.), the emergence of the coronavirus is not unrelated to the climate and biodiversity crises we are experiencing. What do these pandemics tell us about the state of biodiversity?</p>
<h2>New pathogens</h2>
<p>Humankind is destroying natural environments at an accelerating rate. Between 1980 and 2000, more than 100 million hectares of tropical forest were felled, and more than 85% of wetlands have been destroyed since the start of the industrial era. In so doing, we put human populations, often in precarious health, in contact with new pathogens. The disease reservoirs are wild animals usually restricted to environments in which humans are almost entirely absent or who live in small, isolated populations. </p>
<p>Due to the destruction of the forests, the villagers settled on the edge of deforested zones hunt wild animals and send infected meat to cities – this is how <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31985826">Ebola</a> found its way to major human centres. So-called bushmeat is even exported to other countries to meet the demand of expatriates and thus spreads the health risk far from remote areas.</p>
<p>We shamelessly hunt exotic and wild species for purely recreational reasons – the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2008.1475">appeal of rare species</a>, exotic meals, naive pharmacopeia, etc. The trade in rare animals feeds the markets and in turn leads to the contamination of urban centres by new maladies. The epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) rose out of the proximity between bats, carnivores and gullible human consumers. In 2007, a <a href="https://cmr.asm.org/content/20/4/660">major scientific article</a> stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV–like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This time bomb seems to have exploded in November 2019 with the Covid-19.</p>
<h2>The danger of zoonoses</h2>
<p>The consumption and import/export of exotic animals have two major consequences. First, they increase the risk of an epidemic by putting us in contact with rare infectious agents. While they’re often specialized by species and thus cannot defeat our immune system or even penetrate and use our cells, trafficking and confinement of diverse wild animals together allows infectious agents to recombine and cross the barrier between species. This was the case for SARS and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-origins-genome-analysis-suggests-two-viruses-may-have-combined-134059">may have been the case for Covid-19</a>. Beyond the current crisis, this risk is not marginal: It should be remembered that more than two-thirds of emerging diseases are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536">zoonoses</a>, infectious agents that can pass between animals and humans. Of these, the majority comes from wild animals.</p>
<p>Second, capturing and selling exotic animals puts enormous pressure on wild populations. This is the case with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pangolin-illegal-medicine-trade-threatens-these-scaly-mammals-with-extinction-33817">pangolin</a>, recently brought to light by the Covid-19 pandemic. The eight species of this mammal, which is found in Africa and Asia, are poached for their meat and scales despite their protected status. More than 20 tonnes of meat are seized each year by customs, leading to an estimate of around 200,000 individuals killed each year for this traffic. </p>
<p>Humanity is thus doubly endangering itself: We are enabling the creation of emerging diseases and also destroying the fragile biodiversity that provides <a href="https://www.who.int/globalchange/ecosystems/en/">natural services from which we benefit</a>. </p>
<p>The circumstances of the emergence of these new diseases can be even more complex. This is how Zika and dengue viruses are transmitted by <a href="https://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/vector_ecology/mosquito-borne-diseases/en/">exotic mosquitoes</a> transported by humans through international trade. The trade in used tires in which water collects and allows aquatic mosquito larvae to develop and be transported is particularly criticized. Here the disease does not spread by a first direct contact between the human species and reservoir animals followed by intra-human transmission, but it is transmitted to the human species by vector mosquitoes, the latter moving efficiently with our help.</p>
<h2>Managing human and environmental health</h2>
<p>The World Health Organization’s <a href="https://www.who.int/features/qa/one-health/en/">“One Health” initiative</a> advocates managing the issue of human health in relation to the environment and biodiversity. It has three main objectives: combating zoonoses, ensuring food safety and fighting antibiotic resistance.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330990/original/file-20200428-110742-mcjx5n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The ‘One Health’ initiative seeks to promote optimal health for people, animals and the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
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<p>This initiative reminds us that we cannot live in an artificial cocoon, never be in contact with biodiversity whether it be wild, raised or grown. Two of the initiative’s three targets – food security and zoonoses – are directly related to the current Covid-19 crisis. We should not create dangerously unsustainable food circuits, whether it be importing exotic species or feeding unnatural products to farm animals – this was what led to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy">mad cow disease</a>, after all.</p>
<p>The causes of the biodiversity crisis are well known and so are the remedies. First and foremost is stopping the destruction of the environment – deforestation, the world trade in any commodity or living species, the transport of exotic animals – for short-term gain, often just a few percentage points of profitability compared to local production.</p>
<h2>The world after Covid-19</h2>
<p>Voices are starting to be heard that that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/28/after-the-coronavirus-australia-and-the-world-can-never-be-the-same-again">“world will not be the same after Covid-19”</a>. So let’s integrate into this “next world” a greater respect for biodiversity. It’s our greatest immediate benefit!</p>
<p>The world that we will leave to our children and grandchildren will experience <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/sep/18/a-deadly-virus-could-kill-80-million-people-in-hours-experts-warn">deadly new pandemics</a>, that is unfortunately certain. How many will there be depends on our efforts to preserve biodiversity and natural balances, everywhere on the planet. Beyond the current human tragedies, one can at least hope that Covid-19 has had the positive effect of raising this awareness.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is published in collaboration with researchers from the ISYEB (Institute for Systematics, Evolution, Biodiversity of the National Museum of Natural History, Sorbonne Université).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Covid-19, like other major epidemics, is not unrelated to the biodiversity and climate crisis we are experiencing.Philippe Grandcolas, Directeur de recherche CNRS, systématicien, ISYEB - Directeur de l'Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (CNRS, SU, EPHE, UA), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Jean-Lou Justine, Professeur, UMR ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1344852020-04-16T12:09:05Z2020-04-16T12:09:05ZCoronavirus: three misconceptions about how animals transmit diseases debunked<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328331/original/file-20200416-192693-1cb9wvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2788%2C1857&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flying-fox-fruit-bats-hanging-branch-523382722">Belle Ciezak/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As global COVID-19 cases <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-cases-worldwide-top-two-million-11972846">top two million</a>, it’s humbling to remember that it all started when one person got infected by one wild animal. We may never find out precisely where or when it occurred, nor the animal which was responsible. But we do know that these “spillover events” are the starting points of many outbreaks, from influenza to HIV and from SARS to COVID-19. </p>
<p>Zoonotic diseases are caused by pathogens which originate in other animal species. Some diseases, such as rabies, cause sporadic outbreaks, often self-contained but deadly and traumatising for the communities they infect. Others manage to spread worldwide and become pandemic, circulating in the global population. Some are repeat offenders that re-emerge from animal hosts in a mutated form every few decades – think influenza, plague and cholera. </p>
<p>Many others are now part of our burden of endemic diseases, such as measles, mumps or HIV. The coronavirus causing COVID-19 is <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-do-sars-and-mers-compare-with-covid-19">closely related</a> to those that caused the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) pandemic in 2003. Despite speculation, it’s too early to tell whether COVID-19 will disappear within a year or stay with us permanently like the flu. </p>
<p>Either way, we can expect new strains of coronavirus to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-nature-is-sending-us-a-message-says-un-environment-chief">spill over from wildlife</a> in the future. Countless pathogens jump across animal species on a daily basis – most of the time with no visible effect. But increasingly, these pathogens are taking advantage of the new opportunities that humans have created as they reshape the natural environment. In this fraught atmosphere, it’s natural for misconceptions to circulate, so here’s what we know about how new diseases jump from animals to people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-where-do-new-viruses-come-from-136105">Coronavirus: where do new viruses come from?</a>
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<h2>1. Bush meat and wet markets</h2>
<p>It’s often assumed that close contact with wild animals is necessary for zoonotic outbreaks like Ebola or COVID-19 to occur. Activities like hunting, butchering and trading wild animal meat for human consumption carry a high risk of exposure to pathogens, but we don’t know how often they actually cause diseases. Bats are popular game in several African and Asian countries, where some species weigh over 300g and roost in their thousands in trees. As a result, bat hunters are at particular <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0977-0">risk of infection</a>, although there is little evidence to suggest hunters themselves may have been the source of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-015-1053-0">past Ebola outbreaks</a>. </p>
<p>In some countries, live animals destined for human consumption are traditionally sold in wet markets, potentially bringing zoonotic viruses from the forest into towns. But footage of exotic wild animals, sometimes endangered, sold live on overcrowded market stalls, misrepresent <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-shutting-down-chinese-wet-markets-could-be-a-terrible-mistake-130625">a niche trade</a> as mainstream activity. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.12.018">Surveys in China and Vietnam</a> have shown that wild meat is mainly eaten in restaurants, mostly from wild pigs, goats, deer and birds, all of which are commonly farmed – not unlike what happens in Europe. As for bats, which are sold in their tens of thousands in Ghana, they are already dead, eviscerated and smoked by the time they reach market stalls, hence posing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.09.003">a very low risk of infection to consumers</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ebola-bats-get-a-bad-rap-when-it-comes-to-spreading-diseases-32785">Ebola: bats get a bad rap when it comes to spreading diseases</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>2. Vectors</h2>
<p>More common routes of spillover do not require direct contact with animals at all. Many emerging diseases are transmitted by biting insects that act as vectors between animal host species. For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lyme-disease-justin-biebers-tick-bite-illness-can-cause-joint-pain-heart-problems-and-depression-129651">Lyme disease</a>, caused by bacteria found in wild mammals and transmitted to humans by ticks, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/31/uk-lyme-disease-cases-may-be-three-times-higher-than-estimated">has been increasing</a> in North America and Europe in the last 30 years. Although this increase is often thought to be driven by deer hunting, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204536109">studies suggest</a> that the growing abundance of small mammals may be spreading the disease as their natural predators decline.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/328339/original/file-20200416-192749-ci0968.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ticks can transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme disease when they bite humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/deer-tick-sleeping-on-grass-stalk-1099079513">KPixMining/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Other pathogens are excreted in the urine or faeces of their animal host, contaminating drinking water or crops for humans and farm animals. This has been seen in Bangladesh, where bats drink from and urinate into vessels collecting palm sap, <a href="https://magazine.jhsph.edu/2019/tracking-nipah-virus">causing outbreaks of Nipah virus</a> in local communities. </p>
<h2>3. Domestic animals</h2>
<p>Although wild animals transmit zoonotic viruses, people are much more frequently in contact with domestic animals, creating ample opportunities for disease spillover. Poultry can spread bird flu, and there have been sporadic (and often deadly) outbreaks of H5N1 or H7N9 strains in the last 20 years, leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/bird-flu-are-viruses-still-in-the-air-99604">mass culls in farms</a>. </p>
<p>Although less lethal, bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter, commonly found in farm animals, cause thousands of cases of food poisoning in the UK alone. Even normally harmless bacteria may acquire antibiotic resistance genes in farms that use lots of antibiotics. Outside Europe, antibiotics are often added to animal feed as growth promoters, potentially helping to incubate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/19/superbug-hotspots-emerging-in-farms-across-globe-study">multidrug-resistant bacteria in livestock</a>. </p>
<h2>How to prevent zoonotic disease outbreaks</h2>
<p>There are no simple solutions to prevent zoonotic outbreaks, but <a href="https://batonehealth.org">researchers in our Bat-One-Health consortium</a> are studying how to reinforce three particular lines of defence.</p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.0342">Preserving ecosystems</a> and restoring natural habitats can ensure animals don’t need to forage near where humans live. Risky behaviours that expose people to pathogens can be reduced – not by imposing <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-shutting-down-chinese-wet-markets-could-be-a-terrible-mistake-130625">harmful bans on wild meat</a> – but through community engagement that’s respectful of different livelihoods and cultural practices. Most importantly, governments must invest in public health and surveillance <a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-health-systems-is-the-only-way-to-stop-the-next-ebola-outbreak-124957">where they are needed most</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding how new viruses make the jump from animals to humans can help lower the risk of future pandemics, but it will mean dispelling misconceptions about where most transmission occurs and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-shutting-down-chinese-wet-markets-could-be-a-terrible-mistake-130625">avoiding knee jerk reactions</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivier Restif receives funding from the ALBORADA Trust and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, PREEMPT programme). These funders had no involvement in writing this piece and the matters discussed here do not represent their views.</span></em></p>Zoonotic diseases can emerge closer to home than you realise.Olivier Restif, Alborada Lecturer in Epidemiology, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1354792020-04-15T19:35:02Z2020-04-15T19:35:02ZCoronavirus: live animals are stressed in wet markets, and stressed animals are more likely to carry diseases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327933/original/file-20200415-153347-stphfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C44%2C4155%2C2747&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a controversial move, China recently <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/morrison-chides-who-as-wet-markets-reopen-in-china-s-coronavirus-epicentre">reopened its wet markets</a>, which sell fresh meat, produce and live animals. A wet market in Wuhan may have been the source of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned the move, and the World Health Organization reportedly <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/asia-today-china-wet-markets-panned-india-extends-70135427">stated</a> while wet markets don’t need to close down, they should be prohibited from selling illegal wildlife, such as pangolins and civet cats, for food, and food safety and hygiene regulations should be enforced.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-shutting-down-chinese-wet-markets-could-be-a-terrible-mistake-130625">Why shutting down Chinese ‘wet markets’ could be a terrible mistake</a>
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<p>The demand for meat and milk in China is growing rapidly. Nearly 1.5 billion people live in China, and each person eats, on average, about <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/691439/china-meat-consumption/#statisticContainer">2.5 times more meat</a> than in the early 1990s. </p>
<p>But unlike in the West – where well-established standards are dedicated to farm animal welfare – <a href="https://api.worldanimalprotection.org/country/china">China has no animal welfare standards</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1250181924875714560"}"></div></p>
<p>Poorly treated animals are stressed, and stressed animals are more likely to harbour new diseases because their immune systems are compromised. </p>
<p>This means these wet markets, where there are stressed animals in close contact with humans, are the perfect breeding ground for new diseases.</p>
<p>China urgently needs to restructure its animal industries for global food safety. “Clean” meat" (meat grown from cells in a laboratory) offers hope – but more on that later. </p>
<h2>Stressed animals can’t fight diseases well</h2>
<p>The consumption of wildlife per se does not increase the risk of disease transmission. Freshly killed deer in the Scottish highlands can provide venison that’s less risky than intensively farmed chickens, which are routinely infected with human pathogens. </p>
<p>When wildlife are stressed, farmed in small cages and kept in close contact with humans during the entire rearing and slaughtering process, including in wet markets, the risk of disease transmission rises. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-viruses-mutate-and-jump-species-and-why-are-spillovers-becoming-more-common-134656">How do viruses mutate and jump species? And why are 'spillovers' becoming more common?</a>
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<p>When a pathogen challenges a healthy immune system, the body responds with inflammation to fight it. But when an animal is stressed, the hormone cortisol is released. </p>
<p>This causes the normal inflammatory response to change into a more <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10815731_Immunity_and_mastitis_Some_new_ideas_for_an_old_disease">limited activation of white blood cells</a>. And this allows new pathogens to survive and multiply.</p>
<h2>Wildlife under pressure</h2>
<p>As well as importing more meat, the Chinese government has rapidly changed production systems from “peasant-style” agriculture to intensive animal production systems. Recent urban expansion has also put more pressure on agricultural land. </p>
<p>Some weeks ago I visited a new dairy farm in China with more than 30,000 cows. I passed through a destroyed village where small farms kept just a few cows each. Cows in the new megafarms are permanently housed and produce twice as much milk as the cows on small farms, being fed a richer diet. </p>
<p>But they typically last only two or three lactations because of the stress, whereas small farmers’ cows might be kept for a decade.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call-our-war-with-the-environment-is-leading-to-pandemics-135023">Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics</a>
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<p>Similarly, wildlife populations have been put under significant pressure. The human population density in <a href="https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?source=2&series=EN.POP.DNST&country=">China has grown to four times</a> that of the United States and 50 times that of Australia, all similar-sized countries with significant wilderness areas. Indigenous forest in China has diminished <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/blog/1954/the-problems-of-deforestation-in-asia/">to just 3% of its original area</a>.</p>
<p>Domesticated animals have been bred to tolerate traditional farming systems without getting unduly stressed. Wildlife have not. </p>
<h2>The response to wildlife farming</h2>
<p>In 2017, the Chinese government issued <a href="https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/WPL-Final-Law_translation_rev-January-2019.pdf">a law</a> tightening up trade in wildlife, but still allowed wildlife not under state protection and obtained by a person with a hunting license to be sold. Fines for vendors and purchasers were as little as twice the value of the wildlife. </p>
<p>With limited “wild life” available for consumption, entrepreneurial Chinese have turned to farming them in an industry reportedly worth <a href="https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3064927/wildlife-ban/index.html">billions and employing 6 million people</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-a-blanket-ban-on-wildlife-trade-would-not-be-the-right-response-135746">Coronavirus: why a blanket ban on wildlife trade would not be the right response</a>
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<p>Keeping wildlife in small cages – as is practised on wildlife farms – causes them immense stress, traditionally recognised as “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article/7/1/coz027/5528374">capture myopathy</a>”, which can be so severe that it kills them. </p>
<p>But in February this year the <a href="http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/202002/c56b129850aa42acb584cf01ebb68ea4.shtml">law tightened</a> to include a ban on all consumption of terrestrial wildlife, but only if they lived naturally, rather than on farms.</p>
<p>However, nearly 20,000 of the wildlife farms have reportedly been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavirus-closures-reveal-vast-scale-of-chinas-secretive-wildlife-farm-industry">closed down</a> since the COVID-19 outbreak began. </p>
<h2>Signs of change</h2>
<p>There are signs of growing awareness in China towards stress in their animals. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I at the University of Queensland recently established a <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2019/03/advancing-animal-welfare-asia">Sino-Australian Animal Welfare Centre</a>, and our latest research has found a growing number of scientists studying animal welfare issues in China. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327944/original/file-20200415-153298-1f5e2yo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Lab-grown meat is a viable alternative to traditional meat sources in China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>What’s more, there’s a big opportunity to bring “clean meat” into the Chinese diet.
Clean meat is grown synthetically from muscle cells, without the massive land and water resources required of traditional meat production in China, without the emissions of pollutants and, most importantly, without the risk of transmission of novel diseases. </p>
<p>In fact, plant-based meat substitutes are gaining favour in China as more sustainable and healthy products. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494418302408">A 2018 study</a> found Chinese consumers’ intention to eat less meat had a positive emotional response. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-finally-made-us-recognise-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-is-a-public-health-issue-133673">Coronavirus has finally made us recognise the illegal wildlife trade is a public health issue</a>
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<p>And Chinese people are <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2019.00011/full">more likely to purchase clean meat</a> and vegetarian-based alternatives than people in the United States. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/china/">Cultural studies</a> suggest that in general, Chinese people have many of the right qualities for widescale adoption. They act in the collective interest, not for themselves, they are adaptable and entrepreneurial, and their society is driven by competition and success in the face of adversity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-covid-19-a-chinese-virus-is-wrong-and-dangerous-the-pandemic-is-global-134307">Calling COVID-19 a 'Chinese virus' is wrong and dangerous – the pandemic is global</a>
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<p>The Chinese government also supports using <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-feeding-china/">advanced agricultural technology</a> to solve food safety (and security) issues. </p>
<p>Chinese scientists are already working on clean meat. In fact, the first cultured meat there, from pig muscle stem cells, was produced last year by scientists at <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/22/c_138573612.htm">Nanjing Agricultural University</a>. </p>
<p>Clean meat is expected to comprise <a href="https://www.atkearney.com/retail/article/?/a/how-will-cultured-meat-and-meat-alternatives-disrupt-the-agricultural-and-food-industry">35% of the global meat market in 2040</a>. Perhaps it will be even faster in China to avoid more animal-borne diseases emerging.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clive Phillips receives funding from Open Philanthropy Project. </span></em></p>Stressed animals are more likely to harbour new diseases because their immune systems are compromised.Clive Phillips, Professor of Animal Welfare, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1307732020-02-06T13:44:11Z2020-02-06T13:44:11ZRe-creating live-animal markets in the lab lets researchers see how pathogens like coronavirus jump species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313831/original/file-20200205-149796-b6cnv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C298%2C3521%2C2432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Places where lots of animals come into contact can help pathogens move from species to species.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/chickens-in-cages-royalty-free-image/1001442114">Baloncici/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nobody yet knows for sure the definitive origins of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/wuhan-coronavirus-81516">newly recognized coronavirus</a> now known as 2019-nCoV that’s currently spreading across the globe as a human respiratory pathogen. Early reports indicate that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/v12020135">source of the virus was the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China</a>, where an eclectic mix of animals including rodents, rabbits, bats and other wild animals and seafood are all on display for consumption and in contact with human shoppers.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, the world has seen the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06536">emergence of multiple pandemic threats</a>, including bird flu (H5N1 avian influenza), SARS, Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, chikungunya, Zika and now the new coronavirus from Wuhan. The viruses that cause these diseases, and indeed <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html">roughly two-thirds of all recent emergent viruses</a>, originate in animals before they jump to humans. </p>
<p>Each of these events underscores that multiple parts of an ecosystem are at play during an outbreak. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2753">wild bats and rodents harbor numerous viruses</a> that have the potential to infect humans and animals. When these wild animals are extracted from their natural habitat and come into close contact with people, very rare transmission events become much more likely.</p>
<p>These pathogen jumps are complex. They can occur via direct contact, consumption of bushmeat or transmission by insect vectors that carry the germs among a variety of species. And a range of environmental conditions – such as temperature, humidity, sunlight and even seasonal rain and soil conditions – can affect transmission. </p>
<p>Despite the complexity of the natural world, the research approach to understanding how potentially pandemic pathogens and their animal and human hosts interact has been relatively simple. Scientists typically focus on a single species at a time, studied under conditions of constant temperature, humidity and airflow. This strategy has clearly helped researchers understand infectious disease processes.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aDassZsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">as biologists</a>, <a href="https://www.research.colostate.edu/executive-committee/alan-rudolph/">we believe</a> that more explicitly acknowledging the complexity of the natural world will provide a more robust understanding of emerging infectious diseases. We’ve set up what we call “artificial ecosystems” in the lab to mimic the complicated conditions out in the real world. They’re helping us gather new insights into how viruses and other pathogens actually emerge to become global threats.</p>
<h2>Reconstructing live-animal markets and barnyards</h2>
<p>It’s undoubtedly rare for pathogens to jump directly from animals in nature into people. But within markets like the one in Wuhan, there are abundant opportunities for the type of interactions that promote pathogen transmission among species.</p>
<p>To mimic these scenarios, we’ve established artificial ecosystems in our lab. That way, we can study the transmission and spread of pathogens, such as influenza viruses, among diverse groups of birds and mammals all housed together and interacting freely.</p>
<p>Because the pathogens we’re studying are potentially deadly and contagious, we need to be very careful they can’t escape from the lab. We establish our ecosystems under strict biocontainment conditions: All exhaust air is filtered and personnel use respirators, wear facility apparel and shower before exiting.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313396/original/file-20200203-41490-1ndvdft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A live-animal market in Indonesia (left) and an artificial market established to study interspecies transmission of avian influenza viruses as viewed through the window of a biosafety containment level 3 room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Bowen</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For our studies with bird flu, we created artificial barnyards that housed ducks, chickens, pigeons, blackbirds and rats all together. They freely interacted with one another, sharing access to common feed and water. As occurs in real barnyards, the rats were never seen outside of their enclosed nests during daylight hours, though video recordings showed them cavorting around the room, bathing in the water pool and harassing the ducks in the dark. We then <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017643">introduced a small number of infected ducks</a> into the room and watched to see how infection spread. </p>
<p>In a different setup, we investigated transmission of another avian influenza virus among chickens, quail, pheasants and rabbits caged as in a live-animal market. Additionally, sparrows and pigeons were loose in the room and able to interact with the caged animals. As anticipated, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2016.04.032">birds housed beneath those inoculated with virus</a> were more likely be become infected, as waste runs downhill. Quail were the most susceptible to infection.</p>
<p>Key discoveries have emerged from our artificial ecosystem approach. For example, we were able to show that avian influenza viruses pass among diverse birds and mammals interacting freely with one another in an artificial barnyard or artificial live-animal market. We found that there’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017643">massive accumulation of virus in shared water sources</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, we’ve created even more sophisticated artificial ecosystems that allow us to modulate temperature and humidity. We can even impose rain and wind onto an ecosystem, allowing us to evaluate environmental conditions that facilitate virus transmission.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313833/original/file-20200205-149772-88nj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artificial ecosystems complement other research approaches that identify viruses and their properties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/coronavirus-virus-royalty-free-image/1203566633">xia yuan/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lessons from inside the artificial ecosystems</h2>
<p>Despite the known complexity of these sorts of interactions in the real world, it’s more typical to study emerging pathogens by focusing on infection in a single species at a time. This is partly due to the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-development-tool-ddt-qualification-programs/animal-model-qualification-amqp-program">regulatory processes</a> by which diagnostics or vaccines are approved. They require definitive demonstration of safety and efficacy in individual animal models.</p>
<p>We hope this new approach could foster a more realistic understanding of how pathogens are transmitted among species, including jumping into human populations, and will facilitate development of new diagnostic tests, vaccines or therapeutics.</p>
<p>Our ecosystem method fits in with what’s called the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/index.html">One Health</a> approach to public health. One Health is based on the concept that human health is inextricably tied to the health of animals and the environment. Understanding infection in natural hosts in mixed ecosystems that mimic real-world scenarios of transmission is crucial for developing disease control methods.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Bowen receives funding from NIH, CDC, DTRA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Rudolph is a member of the board of the Colorado Biosciences Association.</span></em></p>In the real world, new diseases emerge from complex environments. To learn more about how, scientists set up whole artificial ecosystems in the lab, instead of focusing on just one factor at a time.Richard Bowen, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State UniversityAlan Rudolph, Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Vice President for Research, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.