Meet Calvin Schwabe. A vet… who said something crazy for his time, back in the ‘60s.

That the health of animals is directly related to our well-being.

I mean, it sorta makes sense, doesn’t it? Let’s rewind a little.

The first documented pandemic was the plague of the Justinian.

At its peak, it’s believed to have killed about 5000 people a day. Maybe even more.

The cause? Rats.

And if you look at what’s been happening more recently…one thing is clear.

Sick animals mean sick humans.

Clearly…Schwabe was onto something.

Now… in a rapidly changing world, as humans encroach further into the wild…his words are more important than ever, and can help us figure out…

How to stop the next pandemic?

To start with – what causes a pandemic in the first place?

This guy has the answer.

Chris Walzer is a wildlife vet. For the past 30 years, he has studied the…

“…movement of pathogens between wildlife, livestock, pets and humans.”

Single animal…including us…is a…

“…suitcase full of pathogens.”

And the Earth is a giant cauldron… in which we’re all mixed up together.

And by we, I mean…

“…all of us, wildlife, livestock. We are all in this together.”

“All these pathogens are being shared in this cauldron.”

That’s how it’s always been.

Thousands of viruses have been silently circulating in animals…some of them for centuries.

And sometimes, a zoonotic spillover happens, which is the…

“…movement of a pathogen, from an animal to human.”

More than half of infectious diseases in the world can be linked back to these “spillovers.”

Fortunately, not all viruses that make the jump to humans infect us.

Many others become epidemics and remain confined in one region.

However…many viruses remain quietly circulating in the forests and within livestock.

The unfortunate thing is…

“We are often creating super cauldrons. Humans are so great at doing really silly things.”

Like…

Deforestation and land use change…

“Encroachment.”

Industrial livestock production

“Live wildlife markets in urban centers.”

All these bring humans closer to wildlife and the pathogens that tag along.

Add to that a rapidly warming climate…

…and you have ideal conditions for viruses to mutate and spread.

“It’s like a pot that’s brewing on a fire and we’re just providing all these pathogens opportunities to emerge and get new traits.”

The worrying thing is that…

“No one really knows what’s going on in that cauldron.”

Thankfully, some people are trying to find out…

Elise Paietta: “What’s out there?”

That’s Elise Paietta.

For the past three years, she’s been in Madagascar researching…

“…what viruses are a part of this really unique ecosystem.”

Madagascar has species found nowhere else on the planet…

Which means there are also unknown pathogens waiting to make the jump.

Elise and teams from these organizations…

…capture lemurs and rodents to collect:

Elise Paietta: “Oral swabs”

Elise Paietta: “Blood samples and serum.”

Elise Paietta: “Fecal samples.”

They do this to understand what viruses are lurking around in the forests.

Elise Paietta: “Let’s say you’re a lemur, and you eat some plants and insects, and we take an oral swab from your mouth. We’re also finding insect viruses and plant viruses that are not infecting the animal itself, but are just part of the ecosystem.”

They found…

Elise Paietta: “…hundreds of viruses.”

…but nothing that might make the jump to humans.

Elise Paietta: “If something was to happen, we now have this incredible baseline of viral diversity and all these different species to work from.”

Viruses are inevitable.

Keeping them contained in forests, and away from humans, is the tougher task.

That’s not easy, especially in communities that rely on the trees and other resources from forests for their survival.

So this team has helped set up initiatives like these… to provide alternate livelihood options.

They also made healthcare more accessible. That means the communities don’t have to chop down trees to be able to afford healthcare.

Elise Paietta: “The more they reduce their deforestation…”

The lesser the chances of viruses making the jump. And that means…

Elise Paietta: “There’s this interconnection between human, animal and environmental health.”

Just like our man Calvin said, all those years ago. Today, his philosophy is known as…

One Health

This concept has actually been part of many Indigenous cultures, who…

Neil Vora: “…have understood for hundreds, if not 1000s of years, that we can’t separate ourselves from nature.”

We now know that the best way – or ways – to prevent a pandemic lies in…

Preventing deforestation…
Protecting ecosystems…

Neil Vora: “Addressing the sale of live wild birds and mammals.”

Making livestock production safer.

Neil Vora: “Making sure that we improve the health of communities living in high-risk areas for spillovers.”

This multi-faceted approach is a big part of WHO’s Pandemic Agreement,

Which was adopted by countries around the world in early 2025.

Neil Vora: “Now actually the real work begins.”

It’s time for us to start thinking of how we can live in harmony with our planet.

Neil Vora: “If we decide that we want to, as a species, move in the right direction, we can have a world in which people are prospering as well as the planet.”

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