Open AccessWildlife hosts for OIE ‐Listed diseases: considerations regarding global wildlife trade and host–pathogen relationships
Author(s) -
Smith Kristine M.,
Machalaba Catherine M.,
Jones Hilary,
Cáceres Paula,
Popovic Marija,
Olival Kevin J.,
Ben Jebara Karim,
Karesh William B.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
veterinary medicine and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 11
ISSN - 2053-1095
DOI - 10.1002/vms3.57
Subject(s) - wildlife , wildlife trade , host (biology) , disease , wildlife disease , animal health , transmission (telecommunications) , pathogen , environmental health , biology , veterinary medicine , business , geography , ecology , medicine , immunology , pathology , electrical engineering , engineering
The expanding international wildlife trade, combined with a lack of surveillance for key animal diseases in most countries, represents a potential pathway for transboundary disease movement. While the international wildlife trade represents over US $300 billion per year industry involving exchange of billions of individual animals, animal products, and plants as traditional medicines, meat from wild animals, trophies, live exotic pets, commercial products and food, surveillance and reporting of OIE ‐Listed diseases in wildlife are often opportunistic. We reviewed peer‐reviewed literature for reports of 73 OIE ‐Listed terrestrial animal diseases in wild animals and found 528 possible wild animal hosts using our methodology. Not all host–pathogen relationships indicate that a particular species serves an epidemiologically significant role in the transmission of disease, but improved reporting of infections in wild animals along with clinical and pathological findings would contribute to improved One Health risk assessments.