Recipe for a pandemic: climate change pushes wildlife closer to humans

In 10 seconds? Climate change could force wild animals to relocate from their current habitats, into areas with high human populations. This could dramatically increase the risk of a virus jumping from its animal host to humans which could lead to more future pandemics.

What is being studied?  As the Earth’s climate continues to warm many animal populations are already on the move. In a recent study, researchers at Georgetown University examined the link between the changing geographic location of 3,139 mammal species and the viruses they carry to identify potential hotspots of future viral sharing between hitherto geographically isolated species.