Breeding grounds for the next pandemic?

Nada investigates how the animal trade is putting lives at risk.

Wet markets could be responsible for the next global pandemic (Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)

Filthy farms and markets packed full of sick, distressed animals are potential breeding grounds for deadly new viruses that can jump to humans.

Health experts say to prevent future pandemics the fur trade should end, calling it a ticking time bomb, as well as raising the alarm about wet markets and the illegal wildlife trade.

Others are extremely worried about the unnatural conditions of factory farms, where animals in their tens of thousands are crowded together.

They warn these provide the perfect environment for the rapid spread of viruses and bacteria to many animals.

The first UK case of reverse zoonosis - when human disease passes to animals - has recently been found in a factory-farmed pig, which had human flu. The finding was buried within government surveillance documents from a Northern Ireland farm.

Similar human-hopping transmissions have been documented in the United States, but this critical UK case had not been publicly highlighted until now.