Nathan Wolfe: Hunting for the Next AIDS

Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering new, deadly viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

Armed with blood samples, high-tech tools and a small army of fieldworkers, Nathan Wolfe hopes to re-invent pandemic control -- and reveal hidden secrets of the planet's dominant lifeform: the virus.

Using genetic sequencing, needle-haystack research, and dogged persistence (crucial to getting spoilage-susceptible samples through the jungle and to the lab), Nathan Wolfe has proven what was science-fiction conjecture only a few decades ago -- not only do viruses jump from animals to humans, but they do so all the time. Along the way Wolfe has discovered several new viruses, and is poised to discover many more.

Wolfe's research has turned the field of epidemiology on its head, and attracted interest from philanthropists at Google.org and the Skoll foundation. Better still, the research opens the door to preventing epidemics before they happen, sidelining them via early-warning systems and alleviating the poverty from which easy transmission emerges.

Comments

[wholeysmoke]

I'm not sure about this, but I think MRSA is a man made disease.

[wholeysmoke]

I caught MRSA about a month ago. I picked up my sister who lives in a group home, and brought her to my mothers house for a two day visit.
I was aware that she had gotten MRSA while living in the group home. What I wasn't aware of is how easily this nasty disease can be transmitted from one person to another. By the way, we can also transmit MRSA to our animals too. Within 3 days I began to break out with little sores. Latter the sores become very nasty.
upon going to my doctor I found out that I tested positive for MRSA. I am now awaiting results to find out whether I am a carrier of this nasty siht or not.
I wish I would have done some further research on this disease before I came in contact with my sister.
I had no idea how devastating MRSA is.
I figured I got it from my sister by me touching something after she did.
Now I'm a nervous wreck. I have a fifteen year old daughter who visits me once a week. I am very worried that she might get this siht. The way I spray disinfectant all over my apartment, from keyboards to doorknobs, it's a pain. I worry and worry about this.

Bottom line, when I read about the "next aids" at the top of this article, I thought of MRSA before I got to the next paragraph.

[quidam56]

MRSA is the next AIDS. Hospitals are infecting us with disease but as long as the politicians and profit machines are raking in the dough, it's okay. http://www.wisecountyissues.com

[ricchase]

Now, if only we can somehow figure out how to prevent the initiation of man-made viruses onto the world, this too, will be a major accomplishment. If not a little late.