More than three years have passed since the virus that causes COVID first infected humans, possibly through wild animals being sold at a market in Wuhan, China, but to prevent similar events in the future, little action has been taken. Millions of people around the world consume the meat of wild animals, such as raccoon dogs, reportedly sold in Wuhan markets, with minimal regulation and oversight. But researchers are now building a detailed database that maps and predicts the intensity of bushmeat consumption around the world based on factors such as population density, animal species diversity and human proximity to natural habitats. It is open to the public.
Maps generated using the model show substantial levels of bushmeat consumption across the tropics, with particularly intense activity in West Africa, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. The researchers hope that this model and other similar models will help monitor and detect zoonotic diseases, diseases transmitted to humans from other animals. The findings were published last month in the journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. emerging infectious disease.
From HIV/AIDS to Ebola, mpox and perhaps COVID, zoonotic diseases have repeatedly struck the world. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 70% of emerging diseases in the last 30 years have been zoonotic. A significant number of these diseases, especially HIV, may have arisen from the slaughter and consumption of bushmeat.
“Disease can be transmitted not only by eating certain species, but also by contact with blood and other bodily fluids during slaughter, processing and cooking,” says the German Center for Integrated Biodiversity Research. Scholar Jessica Junker says: We examined the impact of the 2014 Ebola epidemic on bushmeat consumption in Liberia, but were not involved in new research. As human populations continue to encroach on natural habitats and the public’s appetite increases with population growth, the risk of disease transmission increases, according to Lauren Cord, a research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Center for Interdisciplinary Conservation Sciences. There is a possibility.
Soushieta Jagadesh, an infectious disease specialist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and one of the paper’s co-authors, said that despite the global public health threat from animal spillovers, bushmeat processing and consumption are declining. Information about the exact location has been sparse until now. “It’s very difficult to get a compiled database on bushmeat,” says Jagadesh. Previous databases were of limited usefulness because they “performed on a local scale for a given region, but never at a very large or global level.”
Using coordinates gleaned from the scientific literature from 2000 to 2022, the research team compiled 221 confirmed locations where bushmeat was hunted or sold in tropical and subtropical regions. They overlaid these points on two datasets mapping mammalian distribution and distance from protected habitats. This allowed him to create a global bushmeat heatmap that classifies locations into four categories (very low, low, medium and high) based on bushmeat consumption probability. This map was then used to assess the proportion of high-risk regions within the regions of each country studied. Among these hotspots were Equatorial Guinea and Vietnam, which have vastly different geographies, cultures and economies. “We hope it will help with targeted surveillance,” said Jagadesh, who hopes the newly detailed map will help draw attention to areas where bushmeat consumption is underreported. She also believes that such models could help predict the course of emerging diseases and future spillovers.
This model represents an important early stage in the global effort to contain the emergence of infectious diseases. “This is a good first try, but we need more details,” says Juncker. High-resolution maps with more specific data points will be needed for future surveillance efforts, she added.
Despite the advances made in this research, surveillance is only one component of efforts to contain the spread of disease from animals. As long as the bushmeat industry continues in its current form, risks remain. Unfortunately for conservationists and epidemiologists, eradicating bushmeat consumption has proven difficult. “Certainly, I think a complete ban on bushmeat is unrealistic,” Junker said, adding that previous bans had only focused business underground. We need to focus on protecting endangered game species, she says. Although primates are probably the best-known source of bushmeat in the public consciousness, she says. Hoofed animals such as antelopes and small mammals such as porcupines are among the most commonly consumed wildlife in regions such as Nigeria and Cameroon.
Reducing consumption may not be easy. Multiple factors drive the bushmeat industry and these vary by region. As such, experts agree that any effort to combat it must be multifaceted. [people’s] It’s a major source of protein,” says Jagadesh. Ekta Patel is a researcher at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi and her coordinator of research communications for the Institute based on the so-called One Health approach. and ecological health. She added that the sale of bushmeat also brings in substantial income, at least in Kenya and Tanzania. Juncker agrees, adding that efforts to address this must be largely socioeconomic. “It’s important to provide alternative income and sources of protein such as fish and domestic meats,” she says. However, raising more livestock risks eroding fragile habitats. Nevertheless, Junker says countries like Liberia are physically large enough to accommodate increased meat production without posing serious risks to the ecosystem.
Kord disagrees that the focus should be on shifting rural areas to livestock consumption, saying it is unrealistic to try to reduce bushmeat consumption in rural areas where alternatives are limited. Instead, she suggests, the focus should be on regulating bushmeat hunting, slaughter and sales in rural areas while reducing consumption in urban areas. . Even though urban people consume less wild meat per capita than rural people, she said, total consumption is still important given the size of the urban population. It is stated that it means that Furthermore, she notes that unlike bushmeat consumption in rural Africa, bushmeat consumption in urban areas of the African continent is largely driven by habit. African cities claim that bushmeat is a “delicacy”. In contrast, Coad says that in Southeast Asia, the wildlife trade is largely driven by demand for traditional medicines. In regions where bushmeat is not essential to nutrition, Junker recommends public awareness campaigns, the promotion of farmed meat, and monitoring and regulation of the bushmeat market.
Experts agree that there is no single solution to bushmeat consumption. Patel says a One Health approach is needed if humanity hopes to confront the risks of both disease spread and ecological collapse. In fact, even domesticated animals pose a spillover risk, says Code, arguing that replacing bushmeat with livestock may not be a panacea.
Scientists agree more needs to be done to combat the bushmeat trade – urgently. “I don’t think we’re doing it as fast as we need to,” he says Coad. “There is a big clock that keeps time.”
