Yeah, well, I'm certainly no immunologist. I'm thinking I can predict the storyline of Michael Crichton's next novel, though. Think I could whip something out and beat him to the punch? Doubtful - its probably already at the publisher's.

Somehow I'm thinking this doesn't enhance my credibility a whit.

Cross-contamination with primates occurs far more often than, say, with avians, because of the degree of genetic similarity, right? Also, an infection may be pathogenic in one species but relatively benign in another, right? My concern is that lowering the bar of cross-species contamination might prove problematic even without the large populations interacting with each other, with free exchange of body fluids. While I understand there are appropriate safeguards in place, it does occur to me that in this big wide wonderful world of ours, should this activity become relatively commonplace, both laxness and abuse are more likely inevitable than predictable.

If genetic relatedness isn't an issue, then why all the focus on primates for cross-species infection?