New PBS Film And 2016 BIO Animal Biotech Summit Highlight Biotech Solutions To Combating Emerging Infectious Diseases

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 60 percent of infectious diseases in humans are spread from animals, and 75 percent of the emerging human pathogens are also expected to be zoonotic. HIV and Ebola are modern day examples of viruses that originated in animals and spread to humans. Even though most zoonotic diseases are not as deadly as HIV/AIDS, all strain public health resources, and some harm a region’s economy and even threaten national security. The severity of the problems posed by emerging zoonotic disease is the focus of a new PBS film, Spillover: Ebola, Zika and Beyond, that will premiere on August 3, 2016.