More than 75 percent of all newly emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses. In other words, diseases jump from animals to humans. They include SARS-CoV-2, AIDS, Ebola, plague and malaria. The risk of a new pandemic is steadily increasing, with five new pathogens emerging every year, each with the potential to cause a pandemic. Destruction of natural ecosystems, mostly to create arable land for livestock, climate change, and wildlife trade are driving this trend. The dangers that a pandemic caused by a zoonotic disease can pose to humanity are known to everyone, at least since the spread of SARS-CoV-2. RKI scientists are conducting research on the points of contact between humans and animals in the Central African Republic, among other places, in order to better understand the pathways and mechanisms of such an infection. They also work on animal and human health surveillance and investigate diseases and deaths in great apes and other wild animals. In this way, they detect the occurrence of diseases at an early stage and can intervene to prevent the rapid spread of potential disease outbreaks such as Ebola. I accompanied them in their work.