I had accompanied him on a fieldtrip to southwestern Bangladesh in search of evidence of Nipah virus. He is a veterinary disease ecologist, employed at the time by an organisation called the Wildlife Trust (now, EcoHealth Alliance). “The key is connectivity,’ Jon Epstein told me. This was not from prescience, but from listening to the right scientists. Back in 2012, I predicted in my book Spillover that a novel coronavirus could prove to be the Next Big One. Prior to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused it, I traveled the globe to better understand the devastating potential of animal infections transmissible to humans. Aiming to foster the fruitful exchange of expertise and perspectives across fields to help us rise to this critical challenge, opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the OECD. This excerpt is part of a series in which experts and thought leaders - from around the world and all parts of society - address for the OECD the COVID-19 crisis, discussing and developing solutions now and for the future. Used with permission of the publisher, W. Adapted from Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.
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