Researchers writing in the International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management explain how the U.S. is a major importer of wildlife, bringing into the states a great diversity and quantity of different species. This trade, they caution, has the potential to introduce pathogens into the region, specifically zoonotic pathogens, which cause disease in those many different species, but that might make the leap from animal to human. The potential here is that such pathogens, like bird flu, SARS, and COVID-19 pose a serious risk of a new pandemic.
