Q&A: National Zoo veterinarian Suzan Murray is working to halt
pandemic disease in hotspots around the world  Suzan Murray,
chief veterinary medical officer at the Smithsonian’s National
Zoological Park, recently returned from Hanoi, where she led a
team of scientists training pathologists from Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam to better sample, recognize and detect wildlife diseases
in hopes of preventing emerging pandemic disease. The National
Zoological Park is one of five organizations participating in
PREDICT, one component of the the U.S. Agency for International
Development’s Emerging Pandemic Threats program. Dr. Murray
recently answered a few questions about the program for
Smithsonianscience.org.  Q. Why was this workshop conducted in
Vietnam?  A. The Mekong region of Southeast Asia is one of four
hotspots in the world where we know pandemic viruses are most
likely to emerge. Other hot spots are the Congo Basin of Africa,
the Amazon Basin in South America and the Gangetic Plain of
South Asia.  Dr. Suzan Mu