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The Global Virome Project

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The Global Virome Project

Expanded Viral Discovery can Improve Mitigation

Science,

5 min read
5 take-aways
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What's inside?

The Global Virome Project’s mission? Stop the next HIV-like pandemic before anyone is infected.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

What you don’t know can kill you. Case in point: Deadly pathogens like HIV and Ebola were once viruses infecting only wild animals, of which humans were blissfully unaware. That’s why researcher Dennis Carroll and his colleagues lay out their rationale for the launch of the Global Virome Project (GVP), an ambitious billion-dollar plan to identify hundreds of thousands of potentially pandemic viruses in their animal hosts, before the next outbreak. getAbstract recommends this article to anyone who needs reassurance that viral experts are ready to step up the fight against pandemic diseases.

Summary

The vast majority of deadly zoonotic viruses have not yet been discovered.

Many infamous viruses – including HIV, Ebola and SARS – are zoonotic diseases: animal viruses with the capacity to leap to humans. Historically, humans only notice these dangerous microbes once they start infecting us and triggering outbreaks. Ominously, hundreds of thousands of undiscovered zoonotic viruses still lurk in the animal world and could easily be the source of future pandemics. Some 631,000 to 827,000 unknown viruses have this potential. Given the broad human global footprint, and the frequency with which people travel, these viruses pose greater risks than ever. If people are not prepared for potential pandemics, the human and economic impact will be immense.

The goal of the Global Virome Project (GVP) is to identify zoonotic viruses before they infect their first human host.

Fighting viruses only after they cause disease is obviously not ideal. The newly announced Global Virome...

About the Authors

Dennis Carroll, Peter Daszak, Nathan D. Wolfe, George F. Gao, Carlos M. Morel, Subhash Morzaria, Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Oyewale Tomori and Jonna A.K. Mazet are an international team of researchers working for the Global Virome Project. 

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