Time: A new project to track animal diseases before they infect humans

A new report from Time Magazine cites examples of diseases that have jumped from animals to humans.
http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/08/a-new-project-to-track-animal-disease-before-they-infect-humans/

"The virus that would trigger the H1N1/A pandemic in the spring of 2009 emerged in Mexico, and appeared to jump not from birds but from pigs. (Hence the term "swine flu.") It was as if the world's epidemiologists has been preparing for an invasion from the east only to be hit in our soft underbelly. While the Mexican government should be applauded for reacting to the new virus relatively well — and more importantly, in an open fashion — the fact that it emerged in a medical blind spot almost certainly slowed the international reaction to the new pandemic. Luckily, H1N1/A ended up being fairly weak, but if the virus had been a killer on level with the 1918 pandemic, that lost time could have meant lost lives.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/08/a-new-project-to-track-animal-disease-before-they-infect-humans/#ixzz1DZfWwtbr"


The Global Viral Forecasting project http://www.gvfi.org/ is trying to predict and prevent future pandemics.