J.S.

48%
Flag icon
How did the virus go from bats to pigs? All it required was a mango or water apple tree, laden with ripe fruit, overhanging a pigsty. An infected bat feeds on a water apple, discarding the pulp (as bats do), which is besmeared with virus; the pulp drops down among the pigs; one pig snarfs it up and gets a good dose of virus; the virus replicates in that pig and passes to others; soon the whole herd is infected and human handlers begin to fall sick. It wasn’t a far-fetched scenario.
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
Rate this book
Clear rating
Open Preview