In partnership with several collaborators including Smithonian Institution we published a computer simulation of what could happen if mountain gorillas got Ebola virus. There was an outbreak in humans in 2018 in DR Congo not far from Virunga National Park, so we know the virus is present in the region and gorillas are susceptible to the disease. Fortunately, this was just a theoretical exercise and the mountain gorillas remain Ebola-free.

A parasitic disease, canine echinococcosis, has increased in Chile’s Tierra del Fuego province after a governmental dog deworming program was canceled in 2004, according to a study from the University of California, Davis’ One Health Institute and School of Veterinary Medicine.

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.

In the past decade, scientists have described hundreds of novel viruses with the potential to pass between wildlife and humans. But how can they know which are riskiest for spillover and therefore which to prioritize for further surveillance in people?

Scientists from the University of California, Davis created network-based models to prioritize novel and known viruses for their risk of zoonotic transmission, which is when infectious diseases pass between animals and humans.

The first in a series of papers focusing on the wildlife trade and associated health risks in Peru has just been published in the journal Global Ecology & Conservation. This research was funded in part by PREDICT and is a capacity strengthening legacy of the project.