Wildlife trafficking practices have resulted in the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Exotic wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that involves the removal and shipment of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and fish all over the world. [1] Traded wild animals are used for bushmeat consumption, unconventional exotic pets, animal skin clothing accessories, home trophy decorations, privately owned zoos, and for traditional medicine practices. Dating back centuries, people from Africa, [2] [3] Asia, [4] [5] [6] [7] Latin America, [8] [9] the Middle East, [10] and Europe [11] have used animal bones, horns, or organs for their believed healing effects on the human body. Wild tigers, rhinos, elephants, pangolins, and certain reptile species are acquired through legal and illegal trade operations in order to continue these historic cultural healing practices. Within the last decade nearly 975 different wild animal taxa groups have been legally and illegally exported out of Africa and imported into areas like China, Japan, Indonesia, the United States, Russia, Europe, and South America. [12]
Consuming or owning exotic animals can propose unexpected and dangerous health risks. A number of animals, wild or domesticated, carry infectious diseases and approximately 75% of wildlife diseases are vector-borne viral zoonotic diseases. [13] Zoonotic diseases are complex infections residing in animals and can be transmitted to humans. The emergence of zoonotic diseases usually occurs in three stages. Initially the disease is spread through a series of spillover events between domesticated and wildlife populations living in close quarters. Diseases then spread through series of direct contact methods, indirect contact methods, contaminated foods, or vector-borne transmissions. After one of these transmission methods occurs, the disease then rises exponentially in human populations living in close proximities. [14]
After the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose origins have been linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the acting executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, called for a global ban on wildlife markets to prevent future pandemics. [15] Others have also called for a total ban on the global wildlife trade [16] or for already existing bans to be enforced, in order both to reduce cruelty to animals as well as to reduce health risks to humans, [17] [18] or to implement other disease control intervention measures in lieu of total bans. [19] [20] [21]
Direct contact transmissions occur when humans encounter first hand contaminated feces, urine, water sources, or bodily fluids. Bodily fluid transmission may happen either from ingesting pathogens or through open wound contact. Indirect contact transmissions occur when humans interact within an infected species' habitat. Humans are often exposed to contaminated soils, plants, and surfaces where bacterial germs are present. Contaminated food transmissions occur when humans eat infected bushmeat, vegetables, fruits, or drink contaminated water. Often these food and water supplies are tainted by fecal pellets of infected bats, birds, or monkeys. Vector-borne transmissions occur when individuals are bitten by infected parasites such as ticks or insects like mosquitos and fleas. [22]
Other factors for escalated disease transmissions include climate change, globalization of trade, accelerated logging practices, irrigation increases, sexual activity between individuals, blood transfusions, and urbanization developments near infected ecosystems. [23]
Exotic wildlife trafficking admits a number of infectious diseases that spell potential life-threatening results for human populations if contracted. Researchers believe eliminating the transmission of infectious diseases is not plausible. Instead, creating health screening services is critical for minimizing transmission rates among populations and infected wildlife species involved in trafficking.[ citation needed ]
Annually, 15.8% of human deaths have been associated with dangerous infectious disease outbreaks linked to exotic trafficking. [24] Researchers, zoologists, and environmentalists determine that financially poor countries in Africa may attribute to nearly 44% of these deaths due to zoonosis related diseases. [24]
People in Africa are exposed to an increased risk of contracting and dispatching life-threatening zoonotic infections. The continent is considered a hot spot for emerging disease transmissions for reasons like socio-culture livelihood interests, livestock farming, land use methods, globalization influences, and consumption behavior practices. [25]
Many Africans make a living from the wildlife trade due to the high market demand for exotic animals. These individuals partaking in poaching activities are able to produce an income by selling to vendors all around the world. However, hunters are highly susceptible to encountering infected droplets, water sources, soils, carcasses, and viral airborne pathogens while traveling through the bush. Once they have successfully hunted and killed the wild animal, they run the risk of blood or bodily fluid transfer from close contact with possible infected species. They're also at an increased risk of harvesting arthropod-borne pathogens carried in ticks. Often ticks can be found on the wild animal or in its surrounding wildlife habitat. [26]
A study conducted in Tanzania revealed major gaps in locals knowledge of zoonotic diseases. Individuals in these pastoral communities acknowledged health symptoms commonly found in both humans and animals, however they did not have a synthesized term for zoonosis and believed pathogens were not life-threatening. Researchers found that the pastoral communities were more concerned with keeping cultural practices of producing cooked meals rather than the potential infections harvested from the animals. [25]
The urbanization of new environments in Africa increases the migration patterns of humans. New settlements and tourist attractions near these wildlife habitats bring vulnerable individuals with no disease immunity closer to areas of diseases. [25]
The greatest possibility of contracting deadly zoonotic diseases occurs during the bushmeat cooking process. Cooking exotic bushmeat requires sharp knives, steady handwork, and skilled techniques when correctly butchering an animal. Consumers often purchase bushmeat directly from African poachers. This means they have no way of knowing whether the wild animal is carrying dangerous zoonotic pathogens. On average people cut themselves 38% of the time when butchering bushmeat, allowing for infected bodily fluid transmissions. African women are more likely to contract these dangerous zoonotic pathogens because they are the ones handling and cooking the bushmeat. [26]
If sanitation standards are not maintained, live animal markets can transmit zoonoses. Because of the openness, newly introduced animals may come in direct contact with sales clerks, butchers, and customers or to other animals which they would never interact with in the wild. This may allow for some animals to act as intermediate hosts, helping a disease spread to humans. [27]
Due to unhygienic sanitation standards and the connection to the spread of zoonoses and pandemics, critics have grouped live animal markets together with factory farming as major health hazards in China and across the world. [28] [29] [30] [31] In March and April 2020, some reports have said that wildlife markets in Asia, [32] [33] [34] Africa, [35] [36] [37] and in general all over the world are prone to health risks. [38]
H5N1 avian flu outbreaks can be traced to live animal markets where the potential for zoonotic transmission is greatly increased. [27] [39] [40]
The exact origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be confirmed as of February 2021 [41] and was originally linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China due to reports that two-thirds of the initial cases had direct exposure to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan. [42] [43] [44] [45] although a 2021 WHO investigation concluded that the Huanan market was unlikely to be the origin due to the existence of earlier cases. [41] The Huanan market sold "live wolf pups, salamanders, civets, and bamboo rats" amongst other species. [46]
Alternate theories and misinformation emerged in January that the viruses were instead artificially created in a laboratory, but these claims were largely rejected by scientists and news outlets as unfounded rumours and conspiracy theories. [47] [48] [49] [50] In April 2020, United States intelligence officials launched examinations into unverified reports that the virus may have originated from accidental exposure of scientists studying coronaviruses in bats at the BSL-4-capable Wuhan Institute of Virology rather than a wildlife market. [51] [52] [53] [47] On 3 May 2020, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that there is "enormous evidence" that the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory. [54] However, Pompeo later distanced himself from the claim, [55] while virologists have stated that available data overwhelmingly suggest that there was no chance of scientific misconduct or negligence such that the virus emerged from a lab. [56] [57] [58]
In May 2020, George Gao, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said animal samples collected from the seafood market had tested negative for the virus, indicating that the market was the site of an early superspreading event, but it was not the site of the initial outbreak. [59] The results of a WHO investigation yielded similar results, confirming what most scientists expected, that the location of the first contact with the virus was still unknown but unlikely to be the Huanan market due to the existence of earlier cases. [41]
During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Chinese wet markets were heavily criticized in media outlets as a potential source for the virus. [45] Media reports urging for permanent blanket bans on all wet markets, as opposed to solely live animal markets or wildlife markets, have been criticized for undermining infection control needs to be specific about wildlife markets, such as the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. [60] Media focus on foreign wet markets has also been blamed for distracting public attention from public health threats, such as local sources of zoonotic diseases. [61]
In Western media, wet markets have been portrayed during the COVID-19 pandemic without distinguishing between general wet markets, live animal wet markets, and wildlife markets, [62] using montages of explicit images from different markets across Asia without identifying locations. [60] [63] [64] Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting criticized several news articles from mainstream media outlets during the first half of 2020 as "ignorant or worse", pointing to sensationalist coverage utilizing graphic images for shock value. [65] These depictions have been criticized as exaggerated and Orientalist, and have been blamed for fueling Sinophobia and "Chinese otherness". [60] [63] [66] [61] [64]
Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic double stranded DNA disease that occurs in both humans and animals. It often accumulates in wild animals and is transmitted by close contact within animal trade. [67] It is most commonly found in central and west Africa where it is carried in a number of infected species including monkeys, apes, rats, prairie dogs, and other small rodents. [68] In an attempt to reduce the rate of disease spread, researchers believe minimizing direct and indirect contact rates between species in wildlife trade markets is the most practical solution. [69]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), often referred to as a severe form of pneumonia, is a highly contagious zoonotic respiratory illness causing extreme breathing difficulties. Factors attributing to widespread dispersal include the destruction of wildlife natural ecosystems, overextended urbanization effects on biodiversity, and contact with bacterially contaminated objects. [70] The 2002–2004 SARS outbreak can be traced to live animal markets where the potential for zoonotic transmission is greatly increased. [27] [39] [40] In a 2007 study, Chinese scientists identified the presence of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats combined with unsanitary wildlife markets and the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China as a "time-bomb". [71] In April 2020, scientist Peter Daszak described a Chinese wildlife market as follows: "it is a bit of shock to go to a wildlife market and see this huge diversity of animals live in cages on top of each other with a pile of guts that have been pulled out of an animal and thrown on the floor [...] These are perfect places for viruses to spread." [72]
Chinese environmentalists, researchers and state media have called for stricter regulation of exotic animal trade in the markets. [62] Medical experts Zhong Nanshan, Guan Yi and Yuen Kwok-yung have also called for the closure of wildlife markets since 2010. [73]
Ebola virus disease is a rare infectious disease that is likely transmitted to humans by wild animals. The natural reservoirs of Ebola virus are unknown, but possible reservoirs include fruit bats, non-human primates, [74] rodents, shrews, carnivores, and ungulates. [75]
Transmission of this virus likely occurs when individuals live closely to infected habitats, exchange bodily liquids, or consume infected animals. [76] West Africa's Ebola outbreak was termed the most destructive infectious disease epidemic in recent history, killing a total of 16,000 individuals between 2014 and 2015. Wildlife poachers have the greatest chance of contracting and dispersing this disease at they return from the bush. [77]
HIV is a life-threatening virus that attacks the immune system. The virus weakens the white blood cell count and their ability to detect and ward off potentially harmful diseases. Dispersal of the disease includes acts of consuming infected bushmeat, pathogens coming into contact with open wounds, and through infected blood transfers. [78] The two major strains of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2, are both believed to have originated in West or Central Africa from strains of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which infects various non-human primate species. Some of these primates affected by SIV are often hunted and trafficked for bushmeat, traditional medicine practices, and for exotic pet trade purposes.[ citation needed ]
Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is transmitted through open wound contact or exposure to contaminated bodily fluids. Oriental rat fleas, which are thought to originate in northern Africa carry the bacteria and transmit the disease by biting and infecting both humans and wild animals. [79]
Marburg virus, which causes Marburg virus disease, is a zoonotic RNA virus within the filovirus family. It is closely related to the Ebola virus and is transmitted by wild animals to humans. African monkeys and fruit bats are believed to be the main carries of the infectious disease. In 2012 the most recent outbreak occurred in Uganda, where fifteen individuals contracted the disease and four ultimately died from elevated hemorrhagic fevers. Rising numbers of deforestation, urbanization, and exotic animal trade have increased the likeliness of spreading this viral disease. [80]
West Nile virus is a single stranded RNA virus that can cause neurological diseases within humans. The first outbreak was recorded in Uganda and other areas of West Africa in 1937. Disease transmission is primarily through mosquitos feeding on infected dead birds. The infection then circulates within the mosquito and is transferred to humans or animals when bitten by the infected insect. [81]
African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness is caused by a microscopic parasite called the Trypanosoma brucei , which is transferred to humans and animals through the bite of a tsetse fly. [82] The disease is a reoccurring issue in many rural parts of Africa and over 500,000 individuals currently carry the disease. Livestock, game animals, and wild species of the bush are prone to the infection. Wildlife game markets and other exotic animal trade methods continue to spread transmission. These trade operations have introduced dangerous repercussions as the disease becomes more adaptive to drug resistance. [83]
Managing the risk of zoonotic diseases includes educating those in the wildlife trade about potential disease hazards. Other ways to manage risk include creating disease surveillance systems to monitor all stages of wildlife trade, from sources to markets. Other suggestions include education about proper storage, handling, and cooking of wildlife. [84] [85]
Due to the suspicions that wet markets could have played a role in the emergence of COVID-19, a group of US lawmakers, NIAID director Anthony Fauci, UNEP biodiversity chief Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, and CBCGDF secretary general Zhou Jinfeng called in April 2020 for the global closure of wildlife markets due to the potential for zoonotic diseases and risk to endangered species. [86] [87] [88] [89] In April 2021, the World Health Organization called for a total ban on the sale of live animals in food markets in order to prevent future pandemics. [90]
Planetary health studies have called for disease control intervention measures to be implemented at live animal markets in lieu of complete bans. [19] [20] [21] These include proposals for "standardised global monitoring of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions", which the World Health Organization announced in April 2020 that it was developing as requirements for wet markets in general to open. [19] Other proposals include less homogeneous policies that are specialized for local social, cultural, and financial factors, [21] as well as new proposed rapid assessment tools for monitoring the hygiene and biosecurity of live animal stalls in markets. [91]
A zoonosis or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen that can jump from a non-human to a human and vice versa.
Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the world.
Avian influenza, also known as avian flu or bird flu, is a disease caused by the influenza A virus (IAV) which primarily affects birds but can sometimes affect mammals including humans. Wild aquatic birds are the primary host of Influenza A virus (IAV), which is endemic in many bird populations.
EcoHealth Alliance is an US-based non-governmental organization with a stated mission of protecting people, animals, and the environment from emerging infectious diseases. The nonprofit focuses on research aimed at preventing pandemics and promoting conservation in hotspot regions worldwide.
A wet market is a marketplace selling fresh foods such as meat, fish, produce and other consumption-oriented perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting, as distinguished from "dry markets" that sell durable goods such as fabrics, kitchenwares and electronics. These include a wide variety of markets, such as farmers' markets, fish markets, and wildlife markets. Not all wet markets sell live animals, but the term wet market is sometimes used to signify a live animal market in which vendors slaughter animals upon customer purchase, such as is done with poultry in Hong Kong. Wet markets are common in many parts of the world, notably in China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. They often play critical roles in urban food security due to factors of pricing, freshness of food, social interaction, and local cultures.
An emergent virus is a virus that is either newly appeared, notably increasing in incidence/geographic range or has the potential to increase in the near future. Emergent viruses are a leading cause of emerging infectious diseases and raise public health challenges globally, given their potential to cause outbreaks of disease which can lead to epidemics and pandemics. As well as causing disease, emergent viruses can also have severe economic implications. Recent examples include the SARS-related coronaviruses, which have caused the 2002–2004 outbreak of SARS (SARS-CoV-1) and the 2019–2023 pandemic of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Other examples include the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes HIV/AIDS; the viruses responsible for Ebola; the H5N1 influenza virus responsible for avian influenza; and H1N1/09, which caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Viral emergence in humans is often a consequence of zoonosis, which involves a cross-species jump of a viral disease into humans from other animals. As zoonotic viruses exist in animal reservoirs, they are much more difficult to eradicate and can therefore establish persistent infections in human populations.
Globalization, the flow of information, goods, capital, and people across political and geographic boundaries, allows infectious diseases to rapidly spread around the world, while also allowing the alleviation of factors such as hunger and poverty, which are key determinants of global health. The spread of diseases across wide geographic scales has increased through history. Early diseases that spread from Asia to Europe were bubonic plague, influenza of various types, and similar infectious diseases.
A reverse zoonosis, also known as a zooanthroponosis or anthroponosis, is a pathogen reservoired in humans that is capable of being transmitted to non-human animals.
Disease is described as a decrease in performance of normal functions of an individual caused by many factors, which is not limited to infectious agents. Furthermore, wildlife disease is a disease when one of the hosts includes a wildlife species. In many cases, wildlife hosts can act as a reservoir of diseases that spillover into domestic animals, people and other species. Wildlife diseases spread through both direct contact between two individual animals or indirectly through the environment. Additionally, human industry has created the possibility for cross-species transmission through the wildlife trade.Furthermore, there are many relationships that must be considered when discussing wildlife disease, which are represented through the Epidemiological Triad Model. This model describes the relationship between a pathogen, host and the environment. There are many routes to infection of a susceptible host by a pathogen, but when the host becomes infected that host now has the potential to infect other hosts. Whereas, environmental factors affect pathogen persistence and spread through host movement and interactions with other species. An example to apply to the ecological triad is Lyme disease, where changes in environment have changed the distribution of Lyme disease and its vector, the Ixodes tick. The recent increase in wildlife disease occurrences is cause for concern among conservationists, as many vulnerable species do not have the population to recover from devastating disease outbreaks.
Wildlife smuggling or wildlife trafficking concerns the illegal gathering and trade of endangered species and protected wildlife, including plants and byproducts or products utilizing a species. Research on wildlife smuggling has increased, however, knowledge of the illicit trade remains limited. The differences between international policies and tendencies likely contribute to the extensive estimated range of wildlife smuggling, anywhere from $5-$23 billion, with an additional $67-$193 billion when timber and fish are included. The prolific growth of wildlife smuggling makes it the fourth-largest criminal enterprise globally after drug, firearm, and human trafficking. Products demanded by the trade include but are not limited to ivory, bushmeat, traditional medicine, and exotic pets. China and the United States are the largest buyers in the illegal wildlife trade. It often involves other illegal activities such as tranquilizing animals without proper authorization.
Spillover infection, also known as pathogen spillover and spillover event, occurs when a reservoir population with a high pathogen prevalence comes into contact with a novel host population. The pathogen is transmitted from the reservoir population and may or may not be transmitted within the host population. Due to climate change and land use expansion, the risk of viral spillover is predicted to significantly increase.
Bats as food are eaten by people in some areas of North America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Rim countries, and some other cultures, including the United States, China, Vietnam, the Seychelles, the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Thailand, and Guam. Half the megabat species are hunted for food but only eight percent of the insectivorous bat species are. In Guam, Mariana fruit bats are considered a delicacy.
The Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, simply known as the Huanan Seafood Market, was a live animal and seafood market in Jianghan District, Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, in Central China. The market opened on 19 June 2002.
Pandemic prevention is the organization and management of preventive measures against pandemics. Those include measures to reduce causes of new infectious diseases and measures to prevent outbreaks and epidemics from becoming pandemics.
Peter Daszak is a British zoologist, consultant and public expert on disease ecology, in particular on zoonosis. He is the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit non-governmental organization that supports various programs on global health and pandemic prevention. He is also a member of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He lives in Suffern, New York.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been efforts by scientists, governments, and others to determine the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Similar to other outbreaks, the virus was derived from a bat-borne virus and most likely was transmitted to humans via another animal in nature, or during wildlife trade such as that in food markets. While other explanations, such as speculations that SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a laboratory have been proposed, such explanations are not supported by evidence. Conspiracy theories about the virus's origin have also proliferated.
The COVID-19 lab leak theory, or lab leak hypothesis, is the idea that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, came from a laboratory. This claim is highly controversial; most scientists believe the virus spilled into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Available evidence suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was originally harbored by bats, and spread to humans from infected wild animals, functioning as an intermediate host, at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019. Several candidate animal species have been identified as potential intermediate hosts. There is no evidence SARS-CoV-2 existed in any laboratory prior to the pandemic, or that any suspicious biosecurity incidents happened in any laboratory.
In China, wet markets are traditional markets that sell fresh meat, produce, and other perishable goods. They are the most prevalent food outlet in urban regions of China but have faced increasing competition from supermarkets. Since the 1990s, wet markets in large cities have been predominantly moved into modern indoor facilities.
The WHO-convened Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2 or the Joint WHO-China Study was a collaborative study between the World Health Organization and the Government of China on the origins of COVID-19. The study was commissioned by the Director-General of the World Health Organization following a request by the 2020 World Health Assembly in which 122 WHO members proposed a motion, which included a call for a "comprehensive, independent and impartial" study into the COVID-19 pandemic" The WHO disbanded the team and proposed a new panel called Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens.
David Hayman is a New Zealand-based epizootic epidemiologist and disease ecologist whose general multi-disciplinary work focuses on the maintenance of infectious diseases within their hosts and the process of emergence and transmission to humans specifically related to bats. He has gathered data on the relationship between ecological degradation due to anthropogenic actions, and increased pathogen emergence in humans and animals. During COVID-19 he was involved as an expert in several international collaborations, some convened by the World Health Organization, and was a regular commentator in the New Zealand media about the country's response to the pandemic. He has had lead roles in research organisations at Massey University and Te Pūnaha Matatini and was the recipient of the 2017 Rutherford Discovery Fellowship Award. Since 2014 Hayman has been a professor at Massey University.
Wildlife trade, both legal and illegal and in all jurisdictions, must be abolished. All this must be done with due respect for differently resourced low- and middle-income countries and for the needs of those indigenes who through physical need and customary tradition engage in (non-commodified) subsistence hunting.
The horrific coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic that we are experiencing, of which we still do not fully understand the likely economic, political, and social global impacts, is linked to wildlife trade. It is imperative that wildlife trade for human consumption is considered a gigantic threat to both human health and wildlife conservation. Therefore, it has to be completely banned, and the ban strictly enforced, especially in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in Asia
Knights hoped China would also play a role to help "countries around the world. It's no good simply banning the trade in China. The same risks are very much out there in Asia as well as Africa."
...what we do know is that wet markets such as Wuhan, and for that matter Agartala's Golbazar or the thousands such that exist in Asia and Africa allow for easy transmission of viruses and other pathogens from animals to humans.
Most of the attention so far has been focused on the interface between humans and the intermediate host, with fingers of blame being pointed at Chinese wet markets and eating habits,...
For months, anyone who said the new SARS coronavirus might have come out of a virology research lab in Wuhan, China was dismissed as a right wing xenophobe [...] But on Tuesday, the narrative flipped. It's no longer a story shared by China bears and President Trump fans. Today, Josh Rogin, who is said to be as plugged into the State Department as any Washington Post columnist, was shown documents dating back to 2015 revealing how the U.S. government was worried about safety standards at that Wuhan lab. [...] Rogin's reporting suggests that government officials were well aware of the research being conducted in the lab on bat coronaviruses and were worried that the lab still had sub-par safety standards.
After the novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, it didn't take long for conspiracy theorists to claim it was manufactured in a nearby lab. Scientific consensus, on the other hand, is that the virus — SARS-CoV-2 — is a zoonotic disease that jumped from animal to human. It most likely originated in a bat, possibly before passing through another mammal.
The U.S. intelligence community is examining whether the coronavirus that caused the global pandemic emerged accidentally from a Chinese research lab studying diseases in bats [...] Separately, the idea that the virus emerged at an animal market in Wuhan continues to be debated by experts. Dr. Ronald Waldman, a former official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a public health expert at George Washington University, said the theory has fallen out of favor in some quarters, in part because one of the early infected persons had no connection to the market.
We found published evidence from cases of serological and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity of EVD in non- human mammal, or of EVD-linked mortality, in 28 mammal species: 10 primates, three rodents, one shrew, eight bats, one carnivore, and five ungulates