Killers on the farm

Fears that bioterrorists could exploit pathogens emerging from livestock have
led the US administration to seek $340 million for research on diseases
that infect both animals and humans. “It’s about time,” says Tam Garland, an
expert on these “zoonotic” diseases at Texas A&M University. Infections such
as the Nipah virus, which spread from pigs to people in Malaysia last year
(New Scientist, 3 April 1999, p 4),
pose serious threats to both agriculture
and human health.