0:00:01.098,0:00:03.099
The story that I'm going[br]to tell you today,

0:00:03.123,0:00:05.063
for me, began back in 2006.

0:00:05.422,0:00:09.130
That was when I first heard[br]about an outbreak of mysterious illness

0:00:09.154,0:00:11.870
that was happening in the Amazon[br]rainforest of Peru.

0:00:12.947,0:00:15.376
The people that were getting sick[br]from this illness,

0:00:15.400,0:00:17.945
they had horrifying symptoms, nightmarish.

0:00:17.969,0:00:19.499
They had unbelievable headaches,

0:00:19.523,0:00:21.123
they couldn't eat or drink.

0:00:21.147,0:00:23.067
Some of them were even hallucinating --

0:00:23.091,0:00:24.278
confused and aggressive.

0:00:24.953,0:00:27.208
The most tragic part of all

0:00:27.232,0:00:29.412
was that many of the victims[br]were children.

0:00:29.436,0:00:31.681
And of all of those that got sick,

0:00:31.705,0:00:32.989
none survived.

0:00:34.587,0:00:37.359
It turned out that what was killing[br]people was a virus,

0:00:37.383,0:00:39.588
but it wasn't Ebola, it wasn't Zika,

0:00:39.612,0:00:42.738
it wasn't even some new virus[br]never before seen by science.

0:00:43.848,0:00:45.975
These people were dying[br]of an ancient killer,

0:00:45.999,0:00:48.098
one that we've known about for centuries.

0:00:48.492,0:00:49.879
They were dying of rabies.

0:00:50.807,0:00:54.337
And what all of them had in common[br]was that as they slept,

0:00:54.361,0:00:58.582
they'd all been bitten by the only mammal[br]that lives exclusively on a diet of blood:

0:00:58.606,0:00:59.756
the vampire bat.

0:01:01.073,0:01:04.251
These sorts of outbreaks[br]that jump from bats into people,

0:01:04.275,0:01:07.409
they've become more and more common[br]in the last couple of decades.

0:01:07.433,0:01:08.953
In 2003, it was SARS.

0:01:08.977,0:01:11.746
It showed up in Chinese animal markets[br]and spread globally.

0:01:12.462,0:01:16.527
That virus, like the one from Peru,[br]was eventually traced back to bats,

0:01:16.551,0:01:19.393
which have probably harbored it,[br]undetected, for centuries.

0:01:20.249,0:01:24.563
Then, 10 years later, we see Ebola[br]showing up in West Africa,

0:01:24.587,0:01:26.512
and that surprised just about everybody

0:01:26.536,0:01:28.703
because, according[br]to the science at the time,

0:01:28.727,0:01:31.099
Ebola wasn't really supposed[br]to be in West Africa.

0:01:32.115,0:01:35.306
That ended up causing the largest[br]and most widespread Ebola outbreak

0:01:35.330,0:01:36.507
in history.

0:01:37.697,0:01:40.145
So there's a disturbing trend here, right?

0:01:40.169,0:01:44.247
Deadly viruses are appearing in places[br]where we can't really expect them,

0:01:44.271,0:01:45.864
and as a global health community,

0:01:45.888,0:01:47.404
we're caught on our heels.

0:01:47.428,0:01:50.081
We're constantly chasing[br]after the next viral emergency

0:01:50.105,0:01:52.331
in this perpetual cycle,

0:01:52.355,0:01:55.608
always trying to extinguish epidemics[br]after they've already started.

0:01:56.360,0:01:59.217
So with new diseases appearing every year,

0:01:59.241,0:02:01.049
now is really the time

0:02:01.073,0:02:03.957
that we need to start thinking[br]about what we can do about it.

0:02:03.981,0:02:06.110
If we just wait for the next[br]Ebola to happen,

0:02:06.134,0:02:08.031
we might not be so lucky next time.

0:02:08.427,0:02:10.073
We might face a different virus,

0:02:10.097,0:02:11.476
one that's more deadly,

0:02:11.500,0:02:14.029
one that spreads better among people,

0:02:14.053,0:02:17.213
or maybe one that just completely[br]outwits our vaccines,

0:02:17.237,0:02:18.737
leaving us defenseless.

0:02:19.706,0:02:22.659
So can we anticipate pandemics?

0:02:22.683,0:02:23.849
Can we stop them?

0:02:24.480,0:02:27.602
Those are really hard questions to answer,

0:02:27.626,0:02:30.185
and the reason is that the pandemics --

0:02:30.209,0:02:31.980
the ones that spread globally,

0:02:32.004,0:02:34.159
the ones that we really[br]want to anticipate --

0:02:34.183,0:02:36.242
they're actually really rare events.

0:02:36.266,0:02:38.654
And for us as a species[br]that is a good thing --

0:02:38.678,0:02:40.193
that's why we're all here.

0:02:41.241,0:02:45.574
But from a scientific standpoint,[br]it's a little bit of a problem.

0:02:46.783,0:02:49.393
That's because if something[br]happens just once or twice,

0:02:49.417,0:02:51.575
that's really not enough[br]to find any patterns.

0:02:51.599,0:02:55.078
Patterns that could tell us when[br]or where the next pandemic might strike.

0:02:56.131,0:02:57.493
So what do we do?

0:02:58.186,0:03:02.873
Well, I think one of the solutions[br]we may have is to study some viruses

0:03:02.897,0:03:06.477
that routinely jump from wild[br]animals into people,

0:03:06.501,0:03:09.495
or into our pets, or our livestock,

0:03:09.519,0:03:11.619
even if they're not the same viruses

0:03:11.643,0:03:13.667
that we think are going[br]to cause pandemics.

0:03:14.449,0:03:16.867
If we can use[br]those everyday killer viruses

0:03:16.891,0:03:18.483
to work out some of the patterns

0:03:18.507,0:03:22.442
of what drives that initial, crucial jump[br]from one species to the next,

0:03:22.466,0:03:24.710
and, potentially, how we might stop it,

0:03:24.734,0:03:26.756
then we're going to end up better prepared

0:03:26.780,0:03:29.631
for those viruses that jump[br]between species more rarely

0:03:29.655,0:03:31.686
but pose a greater threat of pandemics.

0:03:32.486,0:03:35.405
Now, rabies, as terrible as it is,

0:03:35.429,0:03:38.643
turns out to be a pretty nice[br]virus in this case.

0:03:40.034,0:03:42.923
You see, rabies is a scary, deadly virus.

0:03:43.850,0:03:45.345
It has 100 percent fatality.

0:03:45.369,0:03:49.101
That means if you get infected with rabies[br]and you don't get treated early,

0:03:49.125,0:03:50.853
there's nothing that can be done.

0:03:50.877,0:03:52.028
There is no cure.

0:03:52.052,0:03:53.202
You will die.

0:03:54.801,0:03:57.906
And rabies is not just[br]a problem of the past either.

0:03:58.821,0:04:03.343
Even today, rabies still kills[br]50 to 60,000 people every year.

0:04:04.481,0:04:06.509
Just put that number in some perspective.

0:04:07.188,0:04:09.949
Imagine the whole West African[br]Ebola outbreak --

0:04:09.973,0:04:11.580
about two-and-a-half years;

0:04:11.604,0:04:14.157
you condense all the people[br]that died in that outbreak

0:04:14.181,0:04:15.469
into just a single year.

0:04:15.493,0:04:16.644
That's pretty bad.

0:04:16.668,0:04:18.597
But then, you multiply it by four,

0:04:18.621,0:04:21.453
and that's what happens[br]with rabies every single year.

0:04:23.835,0:04:28.267
So what sets rabies apart[br]from a virus like Ebola

0:04:28.291,0:04:30.054
is that when people get it,

0:04:30.078,0:04:31.794
they tend not to spread it onward.

0:04:32.965,0:04:36.963
That means that every single time[br]a person gets rabies,

0:04:36.987,0:04:39.271
it's because they were bitten[br]by a rabid animal,

0:04:39.295,0:04:40.977
and usually, that's a dog or a bat.

0:04:41.354,0:04:44.540
But it also means that those jumps[br]between species,

0:04:44.564,0:04:48.866
which are so important to understand,[br]but so rare for most viruses,

0:04:48.890,0:04:51.630
for rabies, they're actually[br]happening by the thousands.

0:04:52.527,0:04:56.172
So in a way, rabies[br]is almost like the fruit fly

0:04:56.196,0:04:58.484
or the lab mouse of deadly viruses.

0:04:59.168,0:05:03.237
This is a virus that we can use[br]and study to find patterns

0:05:03.261,0:05:05.205
and potentially test out new solutions.

0:05:05.970,0:05:08.773
And so, when I first heard[br]about that outbreak of rabies

0:05:08.797,0:05:10.154
in the Peruvian Amazon,

0:05:10.178,0:05:12.376
it struck me as something[br]potentially powerful

0:05:12.400,0:05:15.758
because this was a virus that was jumping[br]from bats into other animals

0:05:15.782,0:05:19.243
often enough that we might[br]be able to anticipate it ...

0:05:19.267,0:05:20.446
Maybe even stop it.

0:05:21.354,0:05:23.738
So as a first-year graduate student

0:05:23.762,0:05:26.457
with a vague memory[br]of my high school Spanish class,

0:05:26.481,0:05:29.101
I jumped onto a plane[br]and flew off to Peru,

0:05:29.125,0:05:30.948
looking for vampire bats.

0:05:30.972,0:05:34.670
And the first couple of years[br]of this project were really tough.

0:05:36.125,0:05:40.060
I had no shortage of ambitious plans[br]to rid Latin America of rabies,

0:05:40.084,0:05:41.646
but at the same time,

0:05:41.670,0:05:45.391
there seemed to be an equally endless[br]supply of mudslides and flat tires,

0:05:45.415,0:05:48.610
power outages, stomach bugs[br]all stopping me.

0:05:49.262,0:05:51.480
But that was kind of par for the course,

0:05:51.504,0:05:52.957
working in South America,

0:05:52.981,0:05:54.998
and to me, it was part of the adventure.

0:05:56.044,0:05:58.685
But what kept me going

0:05:58.709,0:06:00.709
was the knowledge that for the first time,

0:06:00.733,0:06:03.640
the work that I was doing[br]might actually have some real impact

0:06:03.664,0:06:05.430
on people's lives in the short term.

0:06:05.454,0:06:06.808
And that struck me the most

0:06:06.832,0:06:09.032
when we actually went out to the Amazon

0:06:09.056,0:06:11.132
and were trying to catch vampire bats.

0:06:11.680,0:06:15.255
You see, all we had to do was show up[br]at a village and ask around.

0:06:15.279,0:06:17.653
"Who's been getting bitten[br]by a bat lately?"

0:06:17.677,0:06:19.897
And people raised their hands,

0:06:19.921,0:06:22.339
because in these communities,

0:06:22.363,0:06:24.698
getting bitten by a bat[br]is an everyday occurrence,

0:06:24.722,0:06:25.872
happens every day.

0:06:26.530,0:06:29.675
And so all we had to do[br]was go to the right house,

0:06:29.699,0:06:31.173
open up a net

0:06:31.197,0:06:32.348
and show up at night,

0:06:32.372,0:06:35.614
and wait until the bats tried[br]to fly in and feed on human blood.

0:06:37.050,0:06:42.731
So to me, seeing a child with a bite wound[br]on his head or blood stains on his sheets,

0:06:42.755,0:06:44.671
that was more than enough motivation

0:06:44.695,0:06:47.165
to get past whatever logistical[br]or physical headache

0:06:47.189,0:06:49.372
I happened to be feeling on that day.

0:06:50.896,0:06:53.052
Since we were working[br]all night long, though,

0:06:53.076,0:06:56.658
I had plenty of time to think about[br]how I might actually solve this problem,

0:06:56.682,0:06:59.759
and it stood out to me[br]that there were two burning questions.

0:06:59.783,0:07:03.689
The first was that we know[br]that people are bitten all the time,

0:07:03.713,0:07:06.191
but rabies outbreaks[br]aren't happening all the time --

0:07:06.215,0:07:08.536
every couple of years,[br]maybe even every decade,

0:07:08.560,0:07:10.336
you get a rabies outbreak.

0:07:10.360,0:07:14.323
So if we could somehow anticipate[br]when and where the next outbreak would be,

0:07:14.347,0:07:15.943
that would be a real opportunity,

0:07:15.967,0:07:18.228
meaning we could vaccinate[br]people ahead of time,

0:07:18.252,0:07:19.656
before anybody starts dying.

0:07:20.181,0:07:22.617
But the other side of that coin

0:07:22.641,0:07:25.911
is that vaccination[br]is really just a Band-Aid.

0:07:26.303,0:07:28.365
It's kind of a strategy of damage control.

0:07:28.389,0:07:31.255
Of course it's lifesaving and important[br]and we have to do it,

0:07:31.279,0:07:32.560
but at the end of the day,

0:07:32.584,0:07:35.179
no matter how many cows,[br]how many people we vaccinate,

0:07:35.203,0:07:39.100
we're still going to have exactly the same[br]amount of rabies up there in the bats.

0:07:39.124,0:07:41.745
The actual risk of getting bitten[br]hasn't changed at all.

0:07:41.769,0:07:43.394
So my second question was this:

0:07:43.418,0:07:46.630
Could we somehow[br]cut the virus off at its source?

0:07:47.179,0:07:50.544
If we could somehow reduce the amount[br]of rabies in the bats themselves,

0:07:50.568,0:07:52.611
then that would be a real game changer.

0:07:52.635,0:07:54.412
We'd been talking about shifting

0:07:54.436,0:07:57.448
from a strategy of damage control[br]to one based on prevention.

0:07:58.687,0:08:01.336
So, how do we begin to do that?

0:08:01.360,0:08:03.479
Well, the first thing[br]we needed to understand

0:08:03.503,0:08:06.137
was how this virus actually works[br]in its natural host --

0:08:06.161,0:08:07.327
in the bats.

0:08:07.351,0:08:09.800
And that is a tall order[br]for any infectious disease,

0:08:09.824,0:08:13.707
particularly one in a reclusive[br]species like bats,

0:08:13.731,0:08:15.373
but we had to start somewhere.

0:08:16.368,0:08:19.230
So the way we started[br]was looking at some historical data.

0:08:19.691,0:08:22.431
When and where had these outbreaks[br]happened in the past?

0:08:23.154,0:08:25.930
And it became clear[br]that rabies was a virus

0:08:25.954,0:08:27.490
that just had to be on the move.

0:08:27.514,0:08:28.664
It couldn't sit still.

0:08:29.449,0:08:32.328
The virus might circulate in one area[br]for a year, maybe two,

0:08:32.352,0:08:35.453
but unless it found a new group of bats[br]to infect somewhere else,

0:08:35.477,0:08:37.498
it was pretty much bound to go extinct.

0:08:38.359,0:08:43.213
So with that, we solved one key part[br]of the rabies transmission challenge.

0:08:43.898,0:08:46.184
We knew we were dealing[br]with a virus on the move,

0:08:46.208,0:08:48.304
but we still couldn't say[br]where it was going.

0:08:49.284,0:08:53.341
Essentially, what I wanted was[br]more of a Google Maps-style prediction,

0:08:53.365,0:08:55.725
which is, "What's[br]the destination of the virus?

0:08:55.749,0:08:58.086
What's the route it's going[br]to take to get there?

0:08:58.110,0:08:59.770
How fast will it move?"

0:09:01.291,0:09:04.734
To do that, I turned[br]to the genomes of rabies.

0:09:05.278,0:09:09.369
You see, rabies, like many other viruses,[br]has a tiny little genome,

0:09:09.393,0:09:11.462
but one that evolves[br]really, really quickly.

0:09:11.903,0:09:16.300
So quickly that by the time the virus[br]has moved from one point to the next,

0:09:16.324,0:09:19.053
it's going to have picked up[br]a couple of new mutations.

0:09:19.077,0:09:21.833
And so all we have to do[br]is kind of connect the dots

0:09:21.857,0:09:23.618
across an evolutionary tree,

0:09:23.642,0:09:26.643
and that's going to tell us[br]where the virus has been in the past

0:09:26.667,0:09:28.570
and how it spread across the landscape.

0:09:28.989,0:09:32.147
So, I went out and I collected cow brains,

0:09:32.171,0:09:34.297
because that's where[br]you get rabies viruses.

0:09:35.088,0:09:40.004
And from genome sequences that we got[br]from the viruses in those cow brains,

0:09:40.028,0:09:41.179
I was able to work out

0:09:41.203,0:09:44.405
that this is a virus that spreads[br]between 10 and 20 miles each year.

0:09:45.147,0:09:49.104
OK, so that means we do now have[br]the speed limit of the virus,

0:09:49.128,0:09:53.427
but still missing that other key part[br]of where is it going in the first place.

0:09:54.362,0:09:58.730
For that, I needed to think[br]a little bit more like a bat,

0:09:58.754,0:10:00.088
because rabies is a virus --

0:10:00.112,0:10:01.351
it doesn't move by itself,

0:10:01.375,0:10:04.447
it has to be moved around by its bat host,

0:10:04.471,0:10:08.450
so I needed to think about[br]how far to fly and how often to fly.

0:10:08.474,0:10:11.321
My imagination didn't get me[br]all that far with this

0:10:11.345,0:10:14.949
and neither did little digital trackers[br]that we first tried putting on bats.

0:10:14.973,0:10:17.307
We just couldn't get[br]the information we needed.

0:10:17.331,0:10:19.982
So instead, we turned[br]to the mating patterns of bats.

0:10:20.006,0:10:22.324
We could look at certain parts[br]of the bat genome,

0:10:22.348,0:10:25.968
and they were telling us that some[br]groups of bats were mating with each other

0:10:25.992,0:10:27.427
and others were more isolated.

0:10:27.451,0:10:31.683
And the virus was basically following[br]the trail laid out by the bat genomes.

0:10:32.884,0:10:36.287
Yet one of those trails stood out[br]as being a little bit surprising --

0:10:36.311,0:10:37.461
hard to believe.

0:10:38.176,0:10:41.975
That was one that seemed to cross[br]straight over the Peruvian Andes,

0:10:41.999,0:10:44.294
crossing from the Amazon[br]to the Pacific coast,

0:10:44.318,0:10:46.735
and that was kind of hard to believe,

0:10:46.759,0:10:48.989
as I said,

0:10:49.013,0:10:52.235
because the Andes are really tall --[br]about 22,000 feet,

0:10:52.259,0:10:54.825
and that's way too high[br]for a vampire to fly.

0:10:56.136,0:10:57.286
Yet --

0:10:57.310,0:10:58.382
(Laughter)

0:10:58.406,0:10:59.760
when we looked more closely,

0:10:59.784,0:11:01.587
we saw, in the northern part of Peru,

0:11:01.611,0:11:05.218
a network of valley systems[br]that was not quite too tall

0:11:05.242,0:11:07.998
for the bats on either side[br]to be mating with each other.

0:11:08.022,0:11:10.022
And we looked a little bit more closely --

0:11:10.046,0:11:12.856
sure enough, there's rabies[br]spreading through those valleys,

0:11:12.880,0:11:14.545
just about 10 miles each year.

0:11:14.569,0:11:18.044
Basically, exactly as our evolutionary[br]models had predicated it would be.

0:11:18.531,0:11:19.705
What I didn't tell you

0:11:19.729,0:11:22.133
is that that's actually[br]kind of an important thing

0:11:22.157,0:11:25.858
because rabies had never been seen before[br]on the western slopes of the Andes,

0:11:25.882,0:11:28.671
or on the whole Pacific coast[br]of South America,

0:11:28.695,0:11:32.721
so we were actually witnessing,[br]in real time, a historical first invasion

0:11:32.745,0:11:35.696
into a pretty big part of South America,

0:11:35.720,0:11:37.149
which raises the key question:

0:11:37.173,0:11:39.183
"What are we going to do about that?"

0:11:39.719,0:11:43.025
Well, the obvious short-term[br]thing we can do is tell people:

0:11:43.049,0:11:45.719
you need to vaccinate yourselves,[br]vaccinate your animals;

0:11:45.743,0:11:46.943
rabies is coming.

0:11:47.507,0:11:48.904
But in the longer term,

0:11:48.928,0:11:52.158
it would be even more powerful[br]if we could use that new information

0:11:52.182,0:11:54.516
to stop the virus[br]from arriving altogether.

0:11:55.847,0:11:59.034
Of course, we can't just tell bats,[br]"Don't fly today,"

0:11:59.058,0:12:02.652
but maybe we could stop the virus[br]from hitching a ride along with the bat.

0:12:04.347,0:12:07.476
And that brings us to the key lesson[br]that we have learned

0:12:07.500,0:12:10.330
from rabies-management programs[br]all around the world,

0:12:10.354,0:12:14.744
whether it's dogs, foxes,[br]skunks, raccoons,

0:12:14.768,0:12:17.557
North America, Africa, Europe.

0:12:17.581,0:12:21.174
It's that vaccinating the animal source[br]is the only thing that stops rabies.

0:12:22.204,0:12:25.392
So, can we vaccinate bats?

0:12:26.597,0:12:29.122
You hear about vaccinating dogs[br]and cats all the time,

0:12:29.146,0:12:31.603
but you don't hear too much[br]about vaccinating bats.

0:12:32.597,0:12:34.647
It might sound like a crazy question,

0:12:34.671,0:12:39.845
but the good news is that we actually[br]already have edible rabies vaccines

0:12:39.869,0:12:41.731
that are specially designed for bats.

0:12:42.351,0:12:43.974
And what's even better

0:12:43.998,0:12:47.819
is that these vaccines[br]can actually spread from bat to bat.

0:12:48.499,0:12:50.966
All you have to do is smear it on one

0:12:50.990,0:12:53.188
and let the bats' habit[br]of grooming each other

0:12:53.212,0:12:55.217
take care of the rest of the work for you.

0:12:55.241,0:12:57.484
So that means, at the very least,

0:12:57.508,0:13:00.747
we don't have to be out there vaccinating[br]millions of bats one by one

0:13:00.771,0:13:02.272
with tiny little syringes.

0:13:02.296,0:13:03.885
(Laughter)

0:13:03.909,0:13:07.418
But just because we have that tool[br]doesn't mean we know how to use it.

0:13:07.442,0:13:09.797
Now we have a whole laundry[br]list of questions.

0:13:09.821,0:13:11.917
How many bats do we need to vaccinate?

0:13:11.941,0:13:14.368
What time of the year[br]do we need to be vaccinating?

0:13:14.392,0:13:16.914
How many times a year[br]do we need to be vaccinating?

0:13:18.067,0:13:20.609
All of these are questions[br]that are really fundamental

0:13:20.633,0:13:22.876
to rolling out any sort[br]of vaccination campaign,

0:13:22.900,0:13:25.758
but they're questions[br]that we can't answer in the laboratory.

0:13:25.782,0:13:28.646
So instead, we're taking[br]a slightly more colorful approach.

0:13:29.250,0:13:32.895
We're using real wild bats,[br]but fake vaccines.

0:13:33.795,0:13:36.211
We use edible gels that make bat hair glow

0:13:36.235,0:13:39.838
and UV powders that spread between[br]bats when they bump into each other,

0:13:39.862,0:13:42.901
and that's letting us study[br]how well a real vaccine might spread

0:13:42.925,0:13:44.955
in these wild colonies of bats.

0:13:45.908,0:13:48.251
We're still in the earliest[br]phases of this work,

0:13:48.275,0:13:50.712
but our results so far[br]are incredibly encouraging.

0:13:51.310,0:13:54.406
They're suggesting that using[br]the vaccines that we already have,

0:13:54.430,0:13:57.704
we could potentially drastically reduce[br]the size of rabies outbreaks.

0:13:58.637,0:14:01.439
And that matters, because as you remember,

0:14:01.463,0:14:04.243
rabies is a virus that always[br]has to be on the move,

0:14:04.267,0:14:07.382
and so every time we reduce[br]the size of an outbreak,

0:14:07.406,0:14:08.867
we're also reducing the chance

0:14:08.891,0:14:11.136
that the virus makes it[br]onto the next colony.

0:14:11.160,0:14:13.655
We're breaking a link[br]in the chain of transmission.

0:14:14.289,0:14:15.881
And so every time we do that,

0:14:15.905,0:14:18.782
we're bringing the virus[br]one step closer to extinction.

0:14:18.806,0:14:23.518
And so the thought, for me,[br]of a world in the not-too-distant future

0:14:23.542,0:14:26.813
where we're actually talking[br]about getting rid of rabies altogether,

0:14:26.837,0:14:28.908
that is incredibly[br]encouraging and exciting.

0:14:29.631,0:14:31.795
So let me return to the original question.

0:14:31.819,0:14:33.303
Can we prevent pandemics?

0:14:34.119,0:14:38.219
Well, there is no silver-bullet[br]solution to this problem,

0:14:38.243,0:14:41.678
but my experiences with rabies[br]have left me pretty optimistic about it.

0:14:42.282,0:14:44.275
I think we're not too far from a future

0:14:44.299,0:14:47.942
where we're going to have genomics[br]to forecast outbreaks

0:14:47.966,0:14:50.371
and we're going to have clever[br]new technologies,

0:14:50.395,0:14:53.299
like edible, self-spreading vaccines,

0:14:53.323,0:14:55.612
that can get rid of these[br]viruses at their source

0:14:55.636,0:14:57.907
before they have a chance[br]to jump into people.

0:14:58.926,0:15:01.063
So when it comes to fighting pandemics,

0:15:01.087,0:15:03.433
the holy grail is just to get[br]one step ahead.

0:15:04.202,0:15:05.352
And if you ask me,

0:15:05.376,0:15:07.376
I think one of the ways[br]that we can do that

0:15:07.400,0:15:09.983
is using some of the problems[br]that we already have now,

0:15:10.007,0:15:11.239
like rabies --

0:15:11.263,0:15:14.024
sort of the way an astronaut[br]might use a flight simulator,

0:15:14.048,0:15:16.016
figuring out what works and what doesn't,

0:15:16.040,0:15:17.565
and building up our tool set

0:15:17.589,0:15:19.187
so that when the stakes are high,

0:15:19.211,0:15:20.459
we're not flying blind.

0:15:20.884,0:15:22.035
Thank you.

0:15:22.059,0:15:25.916
(Applause)