Study predicts the next human virus

A study has suggested that scientists could predict where on the planet the next virus could jump from animals to humans, thus providing data that will aid in early warning systems and disease surveillance efforts. According to the US-based researchers, few analytical tools exist to help scientists understand the patterns of viral diversity in wildlife and how these may successfully become the next human virus, or which viruses could cross species boundaries. The study published last month (21 June) in the Nature journal helps build a roadmap of where to prioritise disease surveillance efforts around the world to better stop viruses from having a large impact. In the study, the scientists have mapped out the ‘missing zoonoses’ giving geographic hotspots as eastern, central and southern Africa, South and Central America as well as parts of Asia. ‘Missing zoonoses’ are the number of predicted zoonotic viruses per mammal species minus the number of zoonotic viruses...