Researchers estimate that hundreds or thousands of primates are captured and trafficked annually in Peru, which is a megadiverse nation. While some are traded for food, artefacts and remedies, most are sold alive and locally as pets. According to a 2024 survey, 40% of Peruvians living in cities have admitted to purchasing wild animals such as protected reptiles, birds, and primates as pets, despite this being illegal. However, infectious diseases can be easily transmitted through trafficked animals. Indeed, in a recent study of monkeys that had been illegally trafficked in nine Peruvian cities, researchers found a total of 32 disease pathogens in their blood, saliva and faecal samples. These pathogens included mycobacteria, which causes tuberculosis, and parasites that cause Chagas disease, malaria and various gastrointestinal ailments. While wildlife traffickers and their families – who are most commonly bitten, scratched, and exposed to animals’ faeces – are most at risk of picking up diseases from trafficked monkeys, infected primates can also disseminate diseases more broadly, as they carry parasites that mosquitoes can pick up and spread to the surrounding community.