Can We Create Antivirals to Deal with the Next Pandemic?

Dr. David Ho currently is working at Columbia University with several colleagues to develop antiviral drugs. Ho was one of the premier researchers that helped to create the initial HIV cocktail that has saved hundreds of thousands. He is also good friends with Jack Ma, the CEO of China-based Alibaba.com, and who gave Ho's foundation a $2.1 - million dollar grant.

When asked, what will the next global pandemic might be? he answered, "If you'd asked me that three or four months ago, I would have said influenza."

The New Yorker author, Matthew Hutson, asks in this article (link below) "Could bacteria do us in?" Looking at human history outbreaks of various plagues and pandemics have killed millions. Amesh Adalja, Johns Hopkins researcher said:


  • "Anti-biotics took bacteria off the table as a global biological risk for the most part." 
  • He went on to say that  prions, which are responsible for mad cow disease are mostly avoidable by not eating the tainted meat. 
  • Protozoa, which are responsible for millions of deaths from Malaria, is under check and only effects parts of the world population due to climate and geography.


But viruses the report concluded are the real menaces.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/the-quest-for-a-pandemic-pill

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