MAP: Find Out What New Viruses Are Emerging In Your Backyard
Over the past 60 years, the number of new diseases cropping up in a decade has almost quadrupled. "We're in a hyperinfectious world," says one scientist.
If you're a germaphobe, make sure you're sitting down.
Back in 1999, a woman in California cleaned up rodent droppings in her home. Two weeks later, her liver started failing. Then she started to bleed internally — a hemorrhagic fever that would kill her. Eventually doctors a new virus in her body, which very likely came from a rat.
