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LACANET One Health Project’s study to assess the impact of wildlife consumption on infectious diseases

On the Lao side, the strategic research project is focused on investigating wildlife markets as hotspots for zoonotic disease transmission. The WCS, NAHL and LOMWRU teams, in collaboration with district and provincial livestock health department staff, targeted 11 wildlife markets in five provinces to test for the presence of potential zoonotic pathogens in these markets. After having collected important information to quantify disease risks related to wildlife consumption, the research team also conducted a series of interviews in key hotspots for wildlife trade to learn more about wildlife consumers’ habits, which provided important and unique information on motivation for wildlife consumption and risk perception for infectious disease.

All field and laboratory studies related to this strategic research project were carried out thanks to the financial support of the European Union.