Can future pandemics be prevented? | DW Documentary

Ebola, COVID-19 and mpox - some of the illnesses caused by germs that jump from animals to humans. In the Central African Republic, researchers are searching for the origins of these zoonotic diseases.

Frédéric Singa is a WWF veterinarian working in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic. He captures bats, collects samples from gorilla droppings, and talks to people with diseases to better understand which pathogens are circulating in the forest.

As part of his research, Singa also plans to regularly test bushmeat sold in local markets, but to do so he needs the community to be on his side. Will he manage to convince skeptical hunters and market vendors to support his project?

The samples Singa collects are analyzed in a field laboratory in the rainforest and sent abroad, including to Germany, for further testing. Professor Fabian Leendertz at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald, Germany researches the emergence of new infectious diseases and maps global risk areas. The connection between the rainforests of Central Africa and the health of people in Europe is closer than many might think.

Our documentary follows the researchers as they work in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, explores issues surrounding bushmeat, and asks what lessons officials have learned from the Covid-19 pandemic — and whether future pandemics can be prevented by combating pathogens where researchers first encounter them.

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