- A recent study demonstrates that machine learning methods could determine the risk of a viral jump or “spillover” from animals to humans using viral genomes.
- The research models predicted that genetically similar nonhuman primate viruses had an increased risk of human transmission, which was not the case with other animal groups.
- Scientists will need to conduct more research to confirm that the viruses that prediction models identified represent a high risk of animal-to-human transmission.
Zoonotic diseases, or zoonoses, occur due to viruses, bacteria, parasites, or fungi that spread between animals and people.
Approximately 60%Trusted Source of known and 75% of new or emerging infectious diseases can spread from animals to humans.