A better classification of wet markets is key to safeguarding human health and biodiversity

Abstract

Wet markets have been implicated in multiple zoonotic outbreaks, including COVID-19. They are also a conduit for legal and illegal trade in wildlife, which threatens thousands of species. Yet wet markets supply food to millions of people around the world, and differ drastically in their physical composition, the goods they sell, and the subsequent risks they pose. As such, policy makers need to know how to target their actions to efficiently safeguard human health and biodiversity without depriving people of ready access to food. Here, we propose a taxonomy of wet markets, oriented around the presence of live or dead animals, and whether those animals are domesticated or wild (either captive-reared or wild-caught). We assess the dimensions and levels of risk that different types of wet markets pose to people and to biodiversity. We identify six key risk factors of wet markets that can affect human health: (1) presence of high disease-risk animal taxa, (2) presence of live animals, (3) hygiene conditions, (4) market size, (5) animal density and interspecies mixing, and (6) the length and breadth of animal supply chains. We also identify key factors informing risk to biodiversity. Finally, we recommend targeted, risk-adjusted policies to more efficiently and humanely address the dangers posed by wet markets. Key messagesMany wet markets do not sell live or wild animals Wet markets are often incorrectly conflated with live-animal or wildlife markets. Wet markets sell consumption-oriented, perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting. By contrast, wildlife markets sell non-domesticated wild animals, either captive-bred or wild-caught, dead or alive. Live-animal markets sell live animals. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, a possible source of the COVID-19 pandemic, was a wet market, live-animal market, and wildlife market.

Averting wildlife-borne infectious disease epidemics requires a focus on socio-ecological drivers and a redesign of the global food system

“…‘Wet markets’ selling fresh produce, including live or freshly slaughtered animals, underpin the informal food systems of fast growing rural and urban populations in tropical and subtropical regions. 310 , 336 Given the tendency of governments to discourage wild meat trade in favour of wildlife conservation, provision of market infrastructure such as covered stalls and concrete/tiled counters, running water, drains and overnight and cold storage is generally lacking for this sector, with the consequence that wild animals and their meat are handled under particularly unhygienic conditions. 312 , 333 Governments should proactively invest in providing markets with adequate water, sanitation, storage and waste management infrastructure, stalls with surfaces that can be easily disinfected, and possibly slaughtering facilities that are separate from the public.…”

A bolder One Health: expanding the moral circle to optimize health for all

“…In fact, domestic mammals are among the most central species for sharing of zoonotic viruses with humans [ 19 ]. To some extent, the wildlife trade and some kinds of wet markets (live-animal and wildlife markets) treat wild animals unethically and raise risks of pathogens leaping from animals to humans [ 20 ]. These practices should in general be carefully phased out in all countries [ 21 ], whilst vigorously addressing the black-market trade and creating opportunities for new livelihoods.…”

Biodiversity and COVID-19: A report and a long road ahead to avoid another pandemic

“…The selling of wildlife in wet markets is a critical health issue and has been implicated in zoonotic outbreaks, including SARS and COVID-19. 13 The culling of 15 million mink in Denmark in 2020 reminds us of the role of wildlife farming in the transmission of zoonotic diseases, including COVID-19. Conservation biologists have also warned of the threat that COVID-19 poses for endangered species.…”