Wildlife surveillance may help identify the next pandemic

Show Me the Science

The virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to have originated in wild bats that live in caves around Wuhan, China. It also may have been passed to a second animal species before it began infecting people. Many devastating epidemics in recent years — including SARS, Ebola and HIV/AIDS — were caused by animal viruses that spilled over into people. Before another pandemic begins, a diverse group of infectious disease experts, ecologists, wildlife biologists and other experts say that a new, decentralized, global system of wildlife surveillance must be established to identify animal viruses in wild animals that have the potential to infect and sicken people. In this episode, Jennifer A. Philips, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Gideon Erkenswick, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in Philips’ lab and director of Field Projects International, discuss what needs to happen to create an early-detection system for viruses with the potential to trigger the next pandemic.

The podcast “Show Me the Science” is produced by the Office of Medical Public Affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.