In the 20th and 21st centuries, zoonotic diseases have started to become more prevalent in humans. A zoonotic infection is a virus that was originally in an animal that is transmitted to a human via ingestion or contact. There are many factors that could influence this. One of the factors is processed meats that come from on knowingly infected livestock. Another factor is the fact of deforestation and this driving animals and bacteria/viruses we have never seen before. In recent years, this would include the Ebola virus and the Zika virus just to name a few. These viruses can be called a spillover in viral infections and make humans very sick or even kill them.

With the close contact and massive food industries now, there is a much greater risk for obtaining these diseases. Scientists still don’t entirely know how these viruses were able to mutate and gain human hosts, but are working hard to figure it out. Until a day comes where we truly understand viruses, all we can do is fight back and pray for the best outcome.