Although this may sound like the title and tagline of a computer game (and an awesome one at that) it is, in fact, the profile of a pioneering epidemiologist. Wolfe has spent his life studying deadly pathogens and now coordinates scientists and staff in viral ‘hot spots’ around the globe to detect potential worldwide disease pandemics before they kill millions. Dubbed the Indiana Jones of virus Hunters, Wolfe is founder of the non-profit organisation Global Viral whose objective is the discovery of new viruses, establishment of diagnostic labs, collection and testing of human and animal samples, and community health education and training. Wolfe states that the problem with current viral research is that the vast majority of energy is spent on attempting to tackle fully human-adapted viruses. His work focuses on the earlier stages of transmission when pathogens are first entering human populations.

“The main objective of my work is to hunt down these [infection] events – the first moments at the birth of a new pandemic – and then work to understand and stop them before they reach a global stage.”

How do epidemics and pandemics begin?

New human pathogens (such as harmful viruses and bacteria) can enter the population in two ways: The first route is the evolution of a new strain of microbe that has evolved from those currently infecting the population. An example of this would be the constantly evolving variants of MRSA bacteria that continue to plague hospitals and make news headlines. The second and much more common way is that an animal pathogen develops the ability to ‘jump’ from its animal host species into humans via a process known as spillover or crossover. After repeated spillover events, the continuously evolving pathogen may become fully adapted to humans and an epidemic or pandemic may result. Such was the case with SARS in 2003, H1N1 in 2009, and Ebola in 2013. Wolfe proposes that research efforts would be best directed towards better understanding the viral ecology in areas where humans and wild animals are in close contact and these initial ‘jumps’ are made into human communities.

“If we instead investigate spillover events much earlier, then we may be able to predict a rising problem”

By working in regions such as hunting camps in central Africa and the live animal ‘wet’ markets in Asia, Global Viral works with scientists and staff to gather thousands of blood samples from local populations of humans and animals and analyses the data to monitor any change in pathogen presence over time. Locals are given sample kits which they can use to gather blood from the animals they regularly come into contact with. Not only are these individuals helping with the research, but they receive health education and training which they can disseminate within their community as a first line of defence against infection. By regularly analysing new samples, Wolfe states that they can monitor changes in the viral ecology or ‘viral chatter’ and forecast potential future threats.

Nature’s terrorists

Consider it like this: Prior to Wolfe, the majority of attempts to tackle viral outbreaks operated like TV show 24’s Jack Bauer. Something bad is about to go down; something big. Jack and his team of counter-terrorist agents at CTU learn from this that a bigger and more devastating attack could be imminent and they must fight against the clock to prevent catastrophe in the limited window of time they have. Wolfe and his team, however, operate more like intelligence agency data analysts. Studying vast quantities of data over months and years to monitor any suspicious ‘chatter’ that may indicate that a threat is round the corner; affording them time to implement a strategy to neutralise the threat before it gains any momentum. In essence, Global Viral aims to become the CIA and NSA of epidemiology…only far less controversial and there is very little likelihood they will start reading your emails and listening to your telephone conversations.

In an age where deforestation can introduce novel viruses via logging roads into urban areas with global air networks, Wolfe’s work is vital if we are to keep one step ahead of our planet’s dominant life forms – Microbes.

“As a species, I think we have no choice but to try and forecast pandemics…We have such incredible capacity to think about the future, it’s time we used it to predict biological threats. Otherwise we’ll be blindsided again and again.”

Richard Gardner