Mark Eloit, a veterinarian turned virus carrier

Virus hunters don’t always have a good reputation. To get rid of the bug—the most pathogenic, the most infectious, the one that would make the best science journals salivate—they say they’re ready for anything, or almost anything. Lifting the elbow, pulling the blanket and putting the rug under his opponent’s feet, even taking a few liberties with his health…Mark Eloit is not of that type. Of course, he likes to walk around, visit the objects of the collections and collaborate with the Pasteur institutes in Asia or Africa, with which the Parisian parent company has been cooperating for fifteen years. True, he recognizes himself as a competitor. After discovering a bat virus in 2021 that was the closest to SARS-CoV-2 ever discovered, he admits he pushed his entire team. “I’m working hard to get it published as soon as possible”. There is no question of being roasted by American cowboys. But during the triumphant publication of the article in St abilityIn February 2022, he never said that there was nothing yet to suggest a link between his pathogen and the pandemic that was later confirmed. And especially with persistence “The first merit of Laos teams”. Definitely not a virological Wild West custom.

A little flavor of revenge

“It’s a matter of justice”– he said simply. But also temperament. Actually, Mark Eloit doesn’t feel like a virus hunter. “Fisherman suits me better”, smiling. No doubt it should be seen as his passion for fly fishing that led him to buy a house in Loser. A little flavor of revenge too. “When he arrived at the Pasteur Institute in 2008, some felt that using high-throughput sequencing to detect pathogens was more of a hammer than exact science.”, recalls Professor Mark LeQuitt, who then welcomed him into his laboratory. The stakeholder is amused. “Those who mocked our methods said that we were going fishing. that we have not made any assumptions in advance. Nothing could be more fake. We do not sample anywhere. only.