It is estimated by scientists that nearly 320,000 viruses are present in mammals that have yet to discover. The discovery of these viruses could facilitate in detection, mitigation, treatment and prevention of numerous outbreaks of diseases. Approximately $6.3 billion is the projected cost of this study work.
“Historically, our whole approach to discovery has been altogether too random,” says lead author Simon 
Anthony, D.Phil, a scientist at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “What we currently know about viruses is very much biased towards those that have already spilled over into humans or animals and emerged as diseases. But the pool of all viruses in wildlife, including many potential threats to humans, is actually much deeper. A more systematic, multidisciplinary, and One Health framework is needed if we are to understand what drives and controls viral diversity and following that, what causes viruses to emerge as disease-causing pathogens.”
“For decades, we’ve faced the threat of future pandemics without knowing how many viruses are lurking in the environment, in wildlife, waiting to emerge. Finally we have a breakthrough — there aren’t millions of unknown virus, just a few hundred thousand, and given the technology we have it’s possible that in my lifetime, we’ll know the identity of every unknown virus on the planet,” adds Peter Daszak, PhD, corresponding author and president of EcoHealth Alliance.
“By contrast, the economic impact of the SARS pandemic is calculated to be $16 billion,” says Dr. Anthony. “We’re not saying that this undertaking would prevent another outbreak like SARS. Nonetheless, what we learn from exploring global viral diversity could mitigate outbreaks by facilitating better surveillance and rapid diagnostic testing.”
“PREDICT has already discovered more than 240 novel viruses throughout the world in areas where people and animals live in close contact and depend on the same natural resources,” says study co-author Jonna Mazet, PhD, director of the UC Davis One Health Institute and co-director of PREDICT. “That includes new coronaviruses, like the ones that cause SARS and the new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.”
“If we know what’s out there, we’ll be a lot better prepared when a virus jumps over into a human population,” Dr. Anthony continues, adding that prevention is crucial when it comes to viral infections since antivirals are notoriously difficult to develop.
“To quote Benjamin Franklin, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” says W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of CII. “Our goal is to provide the viral intelligence needed for the global public health community to anticipate and respond to the continuous challenge of emerging infectious diseases.” The study, titled “A strategy to estimate unknown viral diversity in mammals,” appears in the journal mBio. Support for the research was provided by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the PREDICT Project.
Source: Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health
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