Biological systems are hugely complex, with a staggering number of pathways interacting every millisecond. The downstream effects of just one biological change are enormous. So, when a new disease emerges, researchers have a near-impossible task working upstream from symptoms to identify the underlying cause and biological mechanisms causing disease. Not only does the appearance of a common symptom – such as a fever, for example – lead to potential misdiagnoses, but it can also lead to clinicians choosing ineffective therapies that treat symptoms, rather than the true cause of a disease.
