April 08, 2020 - CNN

Humans may be to blame for viruses jumping from animals to us

It could be a real-life "Contagion," much like the movie.

As a deadly pandemic spreads across the globe, a timely new study has identified key drivers of "virus spillover" from mammals to humans.

The risk of virus spillover -- when viruses jump from animals to humans -- was highest when human exploitation and habitat destruction threatened wild animals, according to a data analysis conducted by researchers at the University of California and the University of Melbourne.

The research was carried out years before the current pandemic began, but researchers have long expected "emerging infectious diseases that come from wildlife and affect people," said study author Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson, a professor of epidemiology and wildlife health at the University of California, Davis.

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