Animal origins of SARS: possible links with the international trade in small carnivores

Bell, Diana, Roberton, Scott and Hunter, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5608-6144 (2004) Animal origins of SARS: possible links with the international trade in small carnivores. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 359 (1447). pp. 1107-1114. ISSN 0962-8436

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Abstract

The search for animal host origins of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus has so far remained focused on wildlife markets, restaurants and farms within China. A significant proportion of this wildlife enters China through an expanding regional network of illegal, international wildlife trade. We present the case for extending the search for ancestral coronaviruses and their hosts across international borders into countries such as Vietnam and Lao People's Democratic Republic, where the same guilds of species are found on sale in similar wildlife markets or food outlets. The three species that have so far been implicated, a viverrid, a mustelid and a canid, are part of a large suite of small carnivores distributed across this region currently overexploited by this international wildlife trade. A major lesson from SARS is that the underlying roots of newly emergent zoonotic diseases may lie in the parallel biodiversity crisis of massive species loss as a result of overexploitation of wild animal populations and the destruction of their natural habitats by increasing human populations. To address these dual threats to the long–term future of biodiversity, including man, requires a less anthropocentric and more interdisciplinary approach to problems that require the combined research expertise of ecologists, conservation biologists, veterinarians, epidemiologists, virologists, as well as human health professionals.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Depositing User: EPrints Services
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2010 13:37
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 00:56
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/1123
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1492

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