Animals carry at least 320,000 dangerous virus species

US and Bangladeshi scientists say mammals now carry up to 320,000 different species of viruses and many viruses can spread to humans, becoming pandemics .

>>>Detecting new dangerous flu viruses

According to the BBC News Agency, nearly 70% of human viruses such as HIV, Ebola or recently MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) are all derived from animals. To determine the scale of this threat, US and Bangladeshi researchers conducted a study on bats with the nickname 'flying fox'.

The 'flying fox' bat contains 60 different viral strains - (Photo: Nature).

This species carries the Nipah virus which is dangerous to humans. But research shows that it also contains 60 different strains of viruses, most of which have not been discovered before. Using extrapolation, the team identified animals that could carry up to 320,000 different species of viruses.

Professor Ian Lipkin of the Center for Infection and Immunity of Columbia University (USA) confirmed that the scientific community should immediately study and identify these viruses. Estimated study time lasts about 10 years at a cost of more than 6 billion USD.

But Professor Lipkin stressed that the cost is much cheaper than the human losses if the virus spreads to humans, forming a global pandemic.'The goal is to develop an early pandemic warning system,' said Professor Lipkin.

According to experts, the scientific community cannot certainly study the whole animal on Earth, but they can make the best effort to map the 'hot spots' at risk of causing pandemics.

Currently, a project called PREDICT has detected 240 new viruses in areas where people and animals live close to each other.