Planet in Peril - CNN Special (Africa, Zoonotic viruses, monkeypox)

Read the full story >>Tracking deadly viruses' spread from animals to humans - CNN.com

Hunters facing food shortages in Central Africa push deep into forests for food, exposing themselves to viruses.







Coy contracted monkeypox through contact with bush meat.
She'll be quarantined for weeks -- there's no cure.

Dr. Nathan Wolfe tracks zoonotic viruses, potentially deadly viruses, passed from animals to humans.

• Faced with limited food sources, Central Africans are forced to kill "bush meat"
  
• Hunters are exposed to potentially deadly zoonotic viruses that spread around world
  
• HIV, which causes AIDS, was most prolific, deadliest zoonotic passed to humans
  
• Pandemics can be prevented before they're spread globally, says Dr. Nathan Wolfe

Story and photos from CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/12/08/pip.zoonotics/index.html, updated 11:56 a.m. EST, Tue December 9, 2008).

It is a powerful story featuring one of the brightest minds in the field of public health.
Imagine being forced to feed on food that is potentially full of deadly viruses.
It really puts me in a new perspective about the things I learn at the school and the field of public health itself.

wouldn't it be an epidemic though... pandemic means it has already spread globally.
just a thought