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‘Are we sufficiently prepared for the next viral outbreak? No, not really …’

Epidemiologist Hans Heesterbeek and virologist Marion Koopmans talk about emerging infectious diseases in Vetscience magazine.

For months now, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has held the world in its grasp – and the end is not yet in sight. Should we have seen this pandemic coming? While virologists and epidemiologists say there was no way to foresee this specific virus, they have been warning us for years of the threat posed by new viruses with pandemic potential. Will we face outbreaks of this kind again in the future? No doubt about it, according to the experts. And when asked whether we are sufficiently prepared for this, the answer is definite and unanimous: not yet. Vetscience spoke with epidemiologist Hans Heesterbeek of Utrecht University and virologist Marion Koopmans of ErasmusMC about the risks of emerging infectious diseases.

Read the article from Vetscience no. 8, July 2020.