Animals in a Nairobi slum (via Africa Slum Journal).

‘The next superbug could emerge from the slums of the developing world, researchers warn.

‘Rapid, unplanned growth in many urban areas has people, livestock and wildlife living in close proximity and with inadequate sanitation. These are ideal conditions for microbes to evolve and spread.

‘So a major project is underway, designed to shed light on how microbes move through the slums of Nairobi and beyond.

‘It’s known as the Urban Zoo project. “Zoo” is short for zoonosis, the spread of diseases from animals to humans. From salmonella to swine flu, that’s how we get most of our diseases.

‘But “zoo” also suggests the menagerie of creatures found in Nairobi’s slums that could carry those diseases.

Fenced in by sheets of rusting corrugated metal in Nairobi’s Viwandani neighborhood, Joseph Mwai and his family share a couple thousand square feet with three cows…