There has always been a link between human and animal disease study, going back to the early stories about Edward Jenner and the subsequent development of a human smallpox vaccine. For many years, researchers have developed animal models of human disease in hopes of elucidating pathways to help cure and prevent disease in man. Eric Rhodes CEO of ERS Genomics demonstrates how both humans and animals share a common enemy in bacterial and viral infections, and strategies for dealing with these are often based on the use of similar, if not identical, drug treatments.