Swine influenza under an electron microscope. | BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images

One researcher says we are “playing Russian roulette.”

We’ve seen the devastating effects of a pandemic firsthand: the loss of human life, the economic toll, and the impact on everything from mental health to children’s education.

Which is why, as Covid-19 spread, people looked for a way to prevent future outbreaks.

In the US, people started to call for the closure of “wet markets” overseas. Some research suggested that the many different species living closely together in these markets might have allowed the virus to mutate and jump to humans.

But Martha Nelson, who studies viruses at the National Institutes of Health, says that if we’re really serious about preventing a future pandemic, we also need to look closer to home.

“I think it’s really easy to think that