CapRadio Insight: UC Davis Virus Spillover Tool
A tool to determine priority viruses for spillover risk
For millennia, animals, both wild and domestic, have provided humans with a seemingly endless number of benefits, from food to livelihood, education, transportation, and even emotional support. But this relationship also opens us up to zoonotic diseases, which can spill over from animals to humans. According to the CDC, 75% of new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals. The most notable example is COVID-19. Although officially, the origin hasn’t been identified, scientists strongly believed the virus originated and evolved from an animal before jumping over to humans. Although zoonotic diseases are known and very common, what’s been difficult over the years is assessing the likelihood of spilling over to humans and, ultimately, the risk of becoming a pandemic. That’s now about to change. Using artificial intelligence, researchers at UC Davis have created a new tool to better understand these emerging viruses and prioritize which ones pose the greatest risk of jumping from animals to us with the goal of better preparing for future pandemics. Dr. Pranav Pandit, a Veterinary Epidemiologist at UC Davis and the lead researcher on the project, joined Insight to discuss this new tool.