Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases are key contributors to morbidity and mortality in southern China.1,2 This region, considered a ‘hotspot’ for emerging zoonotic diseases, harbours abundant wildlife while also undergoing land use change and natural resource overexploitation leading to intensified human–animal interactions that favour the emergence of zoonotic diseases.3 People living in the rural areas of southern China primarily cultivate rice and fruits, raise swine and poultry in households or on small farms,4 but also traditionally hunt wild animals as an alternative income source.5 The mixed landscape has abundant crops, which attracts wild animals into the communities, and livestock rearing is common.6 This brings humans and animals into close contact in dense populations, creating a wildlife–livestock–human interface for zoonotic disease emergence.7