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Climate Change Is Rewiring the Network of Animal Viruses - The Atlantic

theatlantic.com · 1,646 words · saved by 1 readers

By completely rewiring the network of animal viruses, climate change is creating a new age of infectious dangers.

For the world’s viruses, this is a time of unprecedented opportunity. An estimated 40,000 viruses lurk in the bodies of mammals, of which a quarter could conceivably infect humans. Most do not, because they have few chances to leap into our bodies. But those chances are growing. Earth’s changing climate is forcing animals to relocate to new habitats, in a bid to track their preferred environmental conditions. Species that have never coexisted will become neighbors, creating thousands of infectious meet-cutes in which viruses can spill over into unfamiliar hosts—and, eventually, into us. Many s

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