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News

(January 26, 2023) WCS released an image of scientists taking a swab from a straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) to test it for zoonotic diseases such as the Ebola virus. Through a new partnership with the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM), blood samples and naso-oropharyngeal swabs will be safely collected from some 100 adult individuals associated with the bat trade to assess their potential disease exposure. LEARN MORE

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(November 05, 2022) WCS health and policy experts recently participated in the World Health Summit in Berlin, contributing to discussions on the importance of the One Health approach and the critical need to include ‘prevention at source’ in the new World Health Organization (WHO) instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. Read more

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(April 07, 2022) April 7th is WHO’s World Health Day. The WHO estimates that more than 13 million deaths a year are due to avoidable environmental causes and, for the first time, is using World Health Day to focus global attention on urgent actions needed to support human and planetary health.    From Dr. Chris Walzer, Wildlife Conservation Society’s Executive Director of Health:  “It is increasingly clear that planetary mismanagement has led to an escalation...

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(March 14, 2022) A new study in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, led by scientists from WCS, confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Viet Nam host SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses. The findings are further evidence that the transnational nature of the wildlife trade can facilitate coronavirus and other viral transmission and amplification along the trade chain. "Eliminating the trade in pangolins and other wild mammals and birds will eliminate this hig...

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(February 10, 2022) The virus doesn't appear to make them very sick. Spread in new hosts could lead to new variants that cause trouble for people and wildlife later on, though. "We need wildlife surveillance,” says WCS's Sarah Olson. Read VOX story: "There’s a Covid-19 epidemic in deer. It could come back to haunt us." Photo Tim Lewthwaite

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