Ideas worth spreading

The jungle search for viruses

1,892,835 views |

Nathan Wolfe |

TED2009

• February 2009

Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering deadly new viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering deadly new viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Nathan Wolfe

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Armed with blood samples, high-tech tools and a small army of fieldworkers, Nathan Wolfe hopes to re-invent pandemic control -- and reveal hidden secrets of the planet's dominant lifeform: the virus.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.