Emerging zoonotic diseases exert a significant burden on human health and have considerable socioeconomic impact worldwide. In Asia, live animals as well as animal products are commonly sold in informal markets. The interaction of humans, live domestic animals for sale, food products, and wild and scavenging animals, creates a risk for emerging infectious diseases. Such markets have been in the spotlight as sources of zoonotic viruses, for example, avian influenza viruses and coronaviruses, Here, we bring data together on the global impact of live and wet markets on the emergence of zoonotic diseases. We discuss how benefits can be maximized and risks minimized and conclude that current regulations should be implemented or revised, to mitigate the risk of new diseases emerging in the future.
Live and Wet Markets and Emerging DiseasesZoonotic diseases have potential to cause global pandemics; large-scale outbreaks of zoonoses, resulting in huge numbers of deaths, have caused significant disruption to economies, political order, and societies throughout history [1]. These diseases can spread from animals to humans where there is an interface allowing pathogens to jump species, such as in a farm or a market.Live and wet markets (LWMs), markets selling live animals, and animal products (sometimes called traditional, as opposed to modern markets), are widespread in the growing cities in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs), including those in Asia and Africa. Many people depend on these markets for their livelihoods and food supply. The interaction of humans, both retailers and customers; live animals for sale; food products, including ready-to-eat food, as well as wild and peri-domestic animals, pose important risk factors for emerging infectious diseases. But LWMs also bring many benefits, for example, their cultural significance has brought numerous international tourists to visit local LWMs [2]. The markets are accessible to local consumers; they often sell traditional and well-liked foods, and they foster personal relations between buyers and sellers. Yet, these markets, while providing customers with animals to consume, or animalsourced foods, undoubtedly act as an interface for virus exchange with a high risk of crossspecies transmission to humans (Figure 1). The recent history of outbreaks of coronaviruses (CoVs) and avian influenza viruses (AIVs) has well illustrated that these emerging zoonotic diseases, originating from animals in LWMs, can present threats to human health [3]. The impact on health and economy in LMICs by zoonotic infections spread in LWMs is likely largely underestimated, but perhaps also the importance of these markets on livelihoods, nutrition and psychosocial wellbeing is also underestimated. By categorizing known pathogens, one study found that over 60% of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and the majority of these (72%) originate in wildlife [4], while another estimate was that 75% of emerging pathogens were zoonotic [5]. While estimates vary, there is