Jonathan Lambert
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Ebola outbreaks can be sparked by interacting with bats.
HIV likely jumped to humans through a hunted primate.
And studies suggest COVID-19 came from a live animal market where lots of species were kept in close quarters.
But these anecdotal examples don't say much about how risky trading wildlife is generally.
New research in the journal Science suggests vary.
It found 41% of traded mammals shared at least one pathogen with humans, while just 6% of non-traded ones did.
And the longer humans have been trading animals, the more viruses they share.
For every decade in the wildlife trade, an additional new pathogen jumps to humans.
Snake bites usually arise when there's a conflict between how people and snakes are using an environment where they coexist.
But scientists' knowledge of precisely where snakes and people coexist was patchy.
Researchers analyzed reams of data, from scientific papers to museum records, to create a detailed map of over 500 venomous species.
Right now, overlap between dangerous snakes and people is highest across parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia.
but the researchers found that climate change could expand that overlap.
Parts of eastern North America, China, Europe, and elsewhere could become more habitable for some venomous snakes, which in turn could mean more snake bites.
The study appears in PLOS-neglected tropical diseases.
Snake bites usually arise when there's a conflict between how people and snakes are using an environment where they coexist.
But scientists' knowledge of precisely where snakes and people coexist was patchy.
Researchers analyzed reams of data, from scientific papers to museum records, to create a detailed map of over 500 venomous species.