From plague to cholera to the avian flu, history is a timeline of infamous global pandemics. In the wake of COVID-19, scientists and citizens alike have gained renewed interest in both anticipating and preventing the next viral outbreak. Statisticians have culled through 400 years of data to calculate the approximate frequency and intensity of extreme novel epidemics, and the numbers show that another COVID-19-level crisis may very well come again in our lifetime.
 
Environmental change and spillover events from animal reservoirs are only increasing the rate of such events, so a newly pressing job for scientists and global health experts is to slow the momentum of these developments. The Global Virome Project, launched in response to these mounting viral threats, aims to better understand the diversity of viruses in wildlife hosts as well as mitigate their emergence in human populations. Many efforts are focused on the development of antiviral drugs, which provide a quick and targeted way to fight dangerous outbreaks. However, as we have seen throughout the response to COVID-19, vaccines are an invaluable tool for preventing fatalities and cultivating herd immunity. As such, the search for a universal coronavirus vaccine is on. It's a project that faces a number of hurdles, both scientific and political, but one that could effectively neutralize the world's greatest viral threats. 

Next Section »