How Wildlife Trade Is Linked To Outbreaks - COVID-19, MERS & SARS?

Wildlife trade is like a party where animals from faraway places meet, and sometimes, germs come along for the ride.

Imagine you're playing with your friends in the park. If one of them has a cold and sneezes near you, you might catch it too. That’s what happens with wildlife trade, when animals are moved around, they can carry germs to new places, sometimes even to humans.

When people sell or buy animals in markets, like the ones in China where bats and other wild animals live close together, germs can jump from one animal to another. Sometimes, those germs can also jump into humans. That’s how diseases like SARS, MERS, and even COVID-19 started.

It's like a game of tag, the germ tags an animal, then jumps onto a person. Once it gets inside our bodies, we might get sick too.

Sometimes these germs don’t stop at one place. They can travel across countries and even around the world. That’s why people in many different places got sick during COVID-19, it started in one part of the world but traveled far and wide, just like a germ on an airplane! Wildlife trade is like a party where animals from faraway places meet, and sometimes, germs come along for the ride.

Imagine you're playing with your friends in the park. If one of them has a cold and sneezes near you, you might catch it too. That’s what happens with wildlife trade, when animals are moved around, they can carry germs to new places, sometimes even to humans.

When people sell or buy animals in markets, like the ones in China where bats and other wild animals live close together, germs can jump from one animal to another. Sometimes, those germs can also jump into humans. That’s how diseases like SARS, MERS, and even COVID-19 started.

It's like a game of tag, the germ tags an animal, then jumps onto a person. Once it gets inside our bodies, we might get sick too.