Researchers, including Dennis Maki, an infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Rust that the virus has had millions if not trillions of opportunities over the past five years to evolve into a pathogen that easily could make the jump to people. So far, it has not. And while that is certainly something for which the human race can be grateful, the ultimate folly in public health is to let down ones guard, whether its against a virus as familiar as measles or as exotic as avian flu, which has killed more than 60% of the people it has infected.
Office of Strategic Communication