Epidemiologists have examined the sheer volumes of possible coronaviruses in vectors, a term used to specify disease-carrying creatures like bats, mosquitos, and other insects (because of climate change, these vectors are increasing at a rapid rate and range, bringing them closer to humans and other species). They’re estimating a number around 30,000 different types of diseases that could be transmitted through and to other animals, including humans. Dr. Seth Berkley has stated that nobody wants to fund the research it would take to understand the spread of these diseases further, but he also mentions that deforestation and wholesale of wild animals and bushmeat (bats, monkeys) makes the emergence of such diseases “inevitable”. He believes the probable hotspots for these diseases are in the dense forests that we continue to destroy.
