The global vaccine alliance GAVI has warned that the unregulated wildlife trade of animals significantly increases the risk of future pandemics. GAVI’s new study confirms that traded mammals are more than 40 percent more likely to carry diseases that infect humans.
GAVI calls wildlife trade a growing humanitarian threat
In a statement, GAVI called on governments and public health bodies to treat wildlife trade as a growing humanitarian threat. The alliance noted that without urgent action, the world faces repeated outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.
A GAVI spokesperson stated that the world cannot continue responding to pandemics only after they explode. He noted that global health bodies must instead shut down spillover pathways at their source.
The spokesperson added that traded wildlife is not merely a conservation concern. It is a clear and present danger to global public health.
The new study was led by Dr Jérôme Gippet of the University of Fribourg and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. It reveals that traded wild mammals are 1.5 times more likely to share disease-causing pathogens with humans than non-traded species.
Dr Gippet and his team analysed 40 years of global wildlife trade data from three major sources: CITES, LEMIS, and the Dataset of Seized Wildlife. They then linked these records to the CLOVER database, which catalogues more than 190,000 mammal-pathogen associations.
“Traded species have a 50 percent higher probability of sharing at least one virus, bacterium, fungus or parasite with us,” Dr Gippet explained.
Longer trade exposure raises the danger of disease spillover
The research found that the longer a species remains in the wildlife market, the greater the risk. On average, a species shares one additional pathogen with humans for every ten-year period spent in trade.
“This finding implies that pathogens hosted by traded species that currently do not infect humans are more likely to do so in the near future compared with those hosted by non-traded species,” Dr Gippet warned.
As new species enter the global wildlife trade, the researchers cautioned that additional pathogens will gain opportunities to infect humans. This raises the likelihood of future epidemics or pandemics.
The study also identified specific high-risk practices. Among traded mammals, species sold in live-animal markets share on average, 1.5 times more pathogens with humans than those traded solely as products.
Additionally, illegally traded species share around 1.4 times more pathogens with humans than those moving exclusively through legal channels.
However, the researchers said the findings support the idea that illegal trade and live-animal markets actively facilitate pathogen transmission between species.
GAVI stressed that the humanitarian angle remains critically underfunded. Communities living near wildlife trade hubs face the highest exposure but possess the fewest resources to prevent or contain outbreaks.
The alliance urged stronger regulation of wildlife trade and stricter enforcement against illegal trafficking. It also called for better surveillance of traded wildlife before new pathogens trigger the next global health emergency.
Meanwhile, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $8.7 million in grants through its Conservation Partners Program to support on-the-ground conservation projects across the United States.