Natural Selections: The Potential Pandemic You've Never Heard Of How the connections between pigs, bats, and people could threaten your health. By Mary C. Pearl DISCOVER Vol. 27 No. 09 | September 2006 | Medicine Budding particles of Nipah virus assemble near the surface of a cell. The mystery began when pigs on large farms in Malaysia began hacking so loudly that their owners called it a "one-mile cough." Nerve damage was also cropping up in some of the animals. No one knew why. Up to 5 percent of pigs in affected herds were dying, and the illness was spreading...