MOST new human viral infections come from other animals. Ebola fever, sars and aids all started in this way. Animals are also the sources of influenza epidemics. Keeping an eye on birds and beasts, the viruses they carry, and which of those viruses are found in people is thus a prudent thing to do. And that is the self-ap-pointed task of the EcoHealth Alliance, a charitable research organisation based in New York. This week some of the alliance's scientists, led by Kevin Olival, published the results of their latest research in Nature. Among other things, they attempt to estimate what people do not know about these "zoonotic" viruses, as well as what they do.
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