Kristian G. AndersenGeverifieerd account

I strongly agree with your 2016 quote,"Despite their power, molecular clock dating studies of this type would undoubtedly benefit from additional EBOV genomic sequence data from both previous EVD outbreaks and *animal reservoir populations*." And am surprised by this new position

Especially because a quick check of GenBank shows something like 2,120 Ebola virus sequences obtained from human hosts, 37 from macaque, but none from chimpanzees or gorillas.

For Ebola, and many other diseases, it feels like we have a MASSIVE blindspot wrt to sequences from non-human hosts/reservoirs. And your essay, because it speaks so generally, will likely be used as justification to cut funding to programs collecting these much needed data.

It is not for want of searching. I have colleagues who have spent considerable time and effort looking for EBOV in non-human animals. People get funded to do this because it is an important and clearly defined goal. Unlike saying that you will predict the next pandemic for $1.2B.

I agree with you completely and very much admire you, and your co-authors, leadership on genomic surveillance. Nevertheless, I still feel that you overly generalized in your essay and were not nearly clear enough that your critique was focused on this 1.2B program.

e.g., "Broad genomic surveys of animal viruses will almost certainly advance our understanding of virus diversity and evolution. In our view, they will be of little practical value when it comes to understanding and mitigating the emergence of disease"