You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Three years ago, the World Health Organization alerted the world that a major health crisis

was brewing.

It declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern.

And as we know now, that emergency became one of the world's deadliest pandemics in history.

And to keep this from happening again, scientists all over the world have been studying how

to detect and stop viruses with pandemic potential.

And so we invited Ari Daniel, one of NPR's global health and development correspondence

on today.

He's been looking into this, specifically on a recent trip to Bangladesh.

So Ari, it sounds like we can start with some good news.

Researchers are making some progress, right?

That's right, Regina.

Just take the virus called NEPA.

It's on the WHO's short list of diseases that could go global.

So back in December, I visited a local family that got hit by that outbreak in 2004.

A 50-year-old man named Cocon was sitting outside his home beside a rice patty.

Think Zeus, but more casual.

A fiery beer died of bright orange ringed his chin.

And when I talked to him, he said he'll never forget that spring.

So the first one was the mothering law of my elder brother.

She was really sick.

...