It's a wild life out there

In underlining the relationship between the wildlife trade and human health, Xi cited the scientific document "The Wildlife Trade and the Emergence of Global Diseases", that appeared in Emerging Infectious Diseases, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention almost 15 years ago.

It says the transmission mechanism provided by the wildlife trade not only causes human outbreaks but also threatens many aspects of livestock, international trade and rural livelihoods. In the 15 years to 2005, it says, more than 35 new infectious diseases were found in humans, and on average one new infectious appeared every eight months. AIDS, Ebola, and SARS are all related to improper contact with wildlife. From the mid-1990s new or recurring livestock diseases around the world included bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease, avian influenza and swine fever that cost the world economy more than $80 billion.