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Scientists Are Already Preparing for the Next Pandemic
What’s more, they’re looking to eradicate infectious diseases entirely
“Unless we’re screened for coronaviruses and then shot out into space, leaving all other animals and nature behind, we’re going to have coronaviruses.” So says Benjamin Neuman, PhD, chief virologist at Texas A&M’s Global Health Research Complex. Neuman is no stranger to coronaviruses — he has been working with them for decades. His expertise even landed him a spot on the international committee that named SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. SARS-CoV-2 is the most recent member of the coronavirus family, which also includes the viruses that caused the SARS and MERS outbreaks.
The world’s changing climate and growing population increases the future threat of coronaviruses, and it’s a threat that Neuman doesn’t take lightly. Some viruses are very simple, he says. At the other end of the spectrum, there are coronaviruses. “These are viruses that are good at stealth, at sneaking around a cell and cutting the wires before any alarm bells start to ring.” It’s not surprising, he adds, that coronaviruses are found in all kinds of animals, including bats, pangolins, and humans.
A sneaky adversary
Stealth is part of what’s allowed SARS-CoV-2 to live the high life this past year, spreading from one continent and human to the next, often undetected. In addition to the serious illness and death it may cause (and has caused), this virus’s wanderlust has meant more opportunities for it to mutate, and with that comes a greater concern that vaccines — developed at record speeds and, overall still effective against current variants — might no longer protect us.
As mutations in SARS-CoV-2 arise, scientists are scrambling to figure out how each new variant might be different from the last, and if current vaccines can stop it. Neuman is one of many scientists taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture of coronaviruses — a picture not specific to…
