This article contains images that some may find upsetting.

A common first impression of Belén, a floating Peruvian city with a sprawling wet market on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, is “Christ, this place stinks.”

Belén market sells just about anything. Bottled ayahuasca. Shish kabobs made from grilled larvae. Skinned howler monkeys. Yellow-footed tortoises, gutted alive and sold to women with the promise that the meat tames jealous men. The skin of a jaguar, steaks made from sliced caiman, and giant containers packed with turtle eggs—all of which are sold alongside more mundane items, like flour, sugar, and rice. Belén, in other words, is a one-stop shop for the Amazonian town of Iquitos’ local residents. It’s also a powder keg for disease.

“If an epidemic ever happens in Peru,” a

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