Conference Agenda

The COVID-19 pandemic placed the linkages between wildlife trade and human health in the global spotlight. Its human toll and socioeconomic costs have been devastating, and its impacts will stretch into the future. Various factors associated with wildlife trade can influence the chain of events that align to result in zoonotic spillover. The pandemic has prompted urgent policy and regulatory action to reduce the risks of future spillover events and pandemics. Strengthening the regulatory measures for wildlife trade has been central to policy response discussions; measures like sweeping bans on wildlife trade and banning specific species for human consumption have been proposed and discussed. However, it is important to recognize that wildlife trade is diverse, complex, and important for the livelihoods and sociocultural identity of people and communities around the world. Established governance principles should guide policy-making aimed at reducing the risk of future spillover events and pandemics stemming from the wildlife trade. This will help ensure that solutions are equitable, responsive, robust, and effective. Incorporating these principles will support the development of context specific, culturally sensitive, and inclusive responses that recognize the complexity of disease emergence and of the socio-ecological systems in which wildlife trade occurs.

Background: The transmission of Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus, a severe human neurological infection (TBE), is governed by complex interactions between ticks and hosts, closely related with habitat features. No efforts have yet been made to explore the relationship between biodiversity and TBE risk, probably due to the scarcity of large-scale hosts density data. Here, we considered habitat richness as a proxy for biodiversity to explore its connection with TBE risk in Europe.

Methods: We applied binomial regression to model the relationship between the habitat richness index (HRI) and the distribution of TBE cases across Europe. We validated our findings at local scale using municipality data collected in Trento and Belluno provinces, in northern Italy.

Findings: Our results showed a significant parabolic effect of HRI on the presence of human TBE cases in Europe, and a significant negative effect on the local presence of TBE in northern Italy. At both spatial scales, TBE risk decreases in areas with higher values of HRI.

Interpretation: Our findings suggest that in highly diverse habitats TBE risk decreases, and that biodiversity loss could enhance disease risk for both humans and wildlife.

Anthropogenic pressures have increasingly disrupted ecosystems’ integrity worldwide, jeopardizing their capacity to provide essential contributions to human well-being. Recently, the role of natural ecosystems in reducing disease emergence risk has gained prominence in decision-making processes, as a growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human-driven pressure, such as habitat destruction and deforestation, can trigger the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases. However, the intricate relationship between biodiversity and emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) remains only partially understood. Here, we analyse the relationship between EIDs of wildlife origin (zoonoses) and various facets of ecological integrity. We found EID risk was strongly predicted by integrity metrics such as human footprint and ecoregion intactness, in addition to well-known risk correlates such as tropical rainforest density and mammal species richness. EID events were more likely to occur in areas with intermediate levels of compositional and structural integrity, underscoring the risk posed by human encroachment into pristine, undisturbed lands. This study highlights the need to identify novel indicators and targets that can effectively address EID risk alongside other pressing global challenges in sustainable development, ultimately informing strategies for preserving both human and environmental health.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the Borrelia burgorferi sl. complex. This pathogen is vectored by ticks, with Ixodes ricinus being the main vector in Europe. LB is endemic in many regions throughout the world, and is the most prevalent vector-borne disease affecting humans in Europe.

The disease is transmitted to humans via parasitism by an infected tick. Tick abundance in an area is an important predictor of tick bite risk. However, ticks also parasitise a wide range of other mammalian, avian, and reptilian hosts, and previous studies throughout the United States and Europe have identified varying relationships between vertebrate host species richness, tick abundance, and LB risk. These varying relationships can be explained by variability in the pathogen, vector, and vertebrate host species between LB endemic regions, resulting in differing disease ecology between regions.

The current study presents data collected over three years, in tick habitats in Ireland, answering questions on the relationship between vertebrate host species richness and tick bite risk to humans in a host-species poor region of the European LB disease ecosystem. The findings from this study can inform a One Health approach to LB risk and vertebrate biodiversity conservation.