60 Minutes
Correspondent Bill Whitaker speaks with Benard Ssebide, one of Uganda's top wildlife vets.

Virus Hunters Searching for New Pathogens to Help Prevent Another Pandemic

CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker joined UC Davis virus hunters in the field to learn about their search for new pathogens to help prevent the next pandemic.

From CBS News: An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Uganda has alarmed scientists. While no cases have yet been discovered outside Africa, the U.S. has started screening all arrivals from Uganda. Ebola is among the deadliest of pathogens capable of jumping from wild animals to humans—just as COVID-19 likely did. It's called spillover. Disease detectives warn the threat of spillover has never been higher as urban populations grow and come into contact with wild animals and their viruses. Since 2009, American scientists have discovered more than 900 new viruses. Now, the U.S. government is doubling down, sending virus hunters to global hotspots to find the next deadly virus before it finds us. We joined a team from the University of California Davis and their Ugandan partners in the rugged Impenetrable Forest on the search for Pathogen X. Read full interview transcript. View the 60 Minutes episode.

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