TWiV 1315: Jabs for bats

Zoonotic pathogen transmission risks are significantly elevated by the global wildlife trade, where traded mammals are 1.5 times more likely to share pathogens with humans than non-traded species. This risk intensifies with the duration of time a species spends in trade and is further exacerbated by live animal markets and illegal trade channels. While ecological vaccination strategies—such as using saline traps or mosquito vectors to deliver recombinant vaccines—offer a potential One Health approach to mitigate spillover from reservoirs like bats, significant biosafety and logistical hurdles remain. These findings underscore an urgent need for improved biosurveillance of wildlife trade networks, as the persistent interaction between humans and diverse animal species continues to create opportunities for novel pathogen emergence, regardless of the specific transmission directionality.