追踪人畜共患病的根源

Ancient pathogen DNA from animals elucidates the origin and evolution of infectious diseases Felix M. Key M any viruses and bacteria can jump from an animal into a human host, causing diseases known as zoonoses. After this spillover, the pathogens may cause a dead-end in- fection, but they can also become endemic in the popu- lation through human-to-human transmission. Several devastating infectious diseases in human history, such as plague, tu- berculosis, and paratyphoid fever, were elicited by zoonotic pathogens that began to infect people less than 10,000 years ago (1), when human groups transitioned from a nomadic to a sedentary or mobile pastoralist lifestyle. …