Scientists estimated a minimum of 320,000 undiscovered viruses originating in mammals.
Over three quarter of currently-known infectious diseases originated in mammals, and this estimate could help researchers asses the risks of future pandemics, an EcoHealth Alliance press release reported.
"To quote Benjamin Franklin, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," W. Ian Lipkin, MD, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said. "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."
Diseases like "SARS, West Nile virus, HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Avian influenza" all came from mammalian roots.
"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," Peter Daszac corresponding author and president of EcoHealth Alliance, said.
Budding mammalian viruses can take a toll on the economy. The recently discovered Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cost between $15 billion and $50 billion.
Scientists estimated that discovering all of the viruses would cost about $6.3 billion if all mammals were studies; this cost is only a fraction of what it would cost to eradicate one pandemic.
Historically, our whole approach to discovery has been altogether too random," lead author Simon Anthony, D..Phil, a scientist at CII, said.
"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," he said.
