When it comes to new threats arising from nature, the pathogens that demand our greatest focus are respiratory RNA viruses. Not just influenza, not just coronaviruses, but the entire category of respiratory pathogens that derive their genetic instruction set from RNA. The fact that these viruses replicate through RNA means that the pathogens can undergo rapid mutation when they face selective pressure and can adapt to threaten us in unforeseen ways or evade our drugs and vaccines. Something that spreads through inhalation is also hard to isolate and contain.111
