March 27, 2023
In a new paper published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, One Health Trust’s Dr. Thomas Van Boeckel and co-authors used geospatial models to map the distribution of bushmeat activities in tropical and subtropical rural communities worldwide that are at risk of zoonotic pathogen spillover. They found that mammal species richness and deforestation had the greatest effect on the geographic distribution of bushmeat activity. Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and West Africa were associated with the highest levels of bushmeat activity, with Equatorial Guinea having the largest bushmeat market in Africa. With rising rates of disease spillover from wildlife to human populations, the authors call for increased surveillance measures, especially in bushmeat activity hotspots, to identify zoonotic disease threats and prevent them from spreading between humans. Geographically synthesized data, such as that collected and mapped by Dr. Van Boeckel and his colleagues, can help assist these efforts and predict zoonoses in at-risk regions.
Find the article, “Mapping Global Bushmeat Activities to Improve Zoonotic Spillover Surveillance by Using Geospatial Modeling,” here.
