BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 24 -- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University issued the following news release:
Viruses that jump from wild animals to humans have caused pandemics and deadly disease outbreaks for thousands of years. Virginia Tech scientists in theCollege of Natural Resources and Environmentare working to figure out how that happens.
Understanding these processes could be a first step in creating a defense system to prevent or reduce the effects of future pandemics.
Luis Escobar, associate professor in theDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, has received a $400,000 award from the National Science Foundation to lead a nationwide investigation into how environmental shifts and virus evolution cause hantaviruses...