An emergent virus is a virus that has adapted and emerged as a new disease/pathogenic strain, with attributes facilitating pathogenicity in a field not normally associated with that virus. This includes viruses that are the cause of a disease which has notably increased in incidence; this is often a result of a wide variety of causes from both the influence of man and nature. Most emergent viruses can be categorized as zoonotic (an animal disease that can be transmitted to humans), this has the advantage of possibly having several natural reservoirs for the disease.
Read more about Emergent Virus: Overview, Emergent Virus Infection Factors
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“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life ... for fear that I should get some of his good done to me,—some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)