Thanks to Greg Folkers for tweeting the link to this National Geographic interview with virus hunter Nathan Wolf: Possible Pandemic: Is MERS the New SARS? Excerpt:
You spend your days tracking new viruses all over the world. How do you know when you've found a new virus?
We regularly collect blood from people and animals throughout the world. Advances in microbial discovery techniques have increased our ability to find new viruses. For example, recently we identified a novel rhabdovirus from three cases of acute hemorrhagic fever in Central Africa. We knew the virus was novel for two reasons: first, because it had a unique genetic signature distinct from all previously identified human viruses, and second, [because] it caused symptoms previously seen only in infections from viruses from other viral families, such as Ebola, Marburg, and yellow fever.
You founded two organizations, and one of their goals is to stop pandemics. How can we stop this from becoming a pandemic?
We've established two organizations—Global Viral and Metabiota—that work in tandem to address the various facets of pandemics and biological threats. Global Viral focuses on exploratory, basic research while Metabiota assists governments and other organizations to mitigate the risks associated with pandemics and other biological threats.
Our mission is to identify viruses before they become pandemics. And we do so by working with governments, NGOs, and other organizations to establish surveillance, laboratory, and data systems aimed at tracking viruses in their earliest stages of spread.
