Work

The first phase of PREDICT: Surveillance for emerging infectious zoonotic diseases of wildlife origin (2009-2014)

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Purpose: Based on the premise that the majority of emerging infectious zoonotic diseases originate in wildlife species, the United States Agency for International Development created the Emerging Pandemic Threats Program to increase capacity in the developing world to detect and respond to emerging threats. A coalition of organizations led by the University of California at Davis, and including EcoHealth Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, Metabiota Inc., and the Smithsonian Institution, implemented the first phase of PREDICT (2009-2014), the component of the program tasked with developing the capacity for early detection of these emerging threats. Methods & Materials: Based on an iterative process of field and digital data collection and statistical computer modeling, PREDICT identified geographic, taxonomic, and behavioural interfaces likely to lead to disease emergence. Results: Between 2009 and 2014, over 250,000 samples from over 56,000 animals were collected from wildlife in close proximity to humans (46.6%), free-ranging wildlife and hunted wildlife (31.8%), traded and market wildlife (14.6%), and other sampling sources (7%). Family-level viral screening was conducted using consensus PCR, in 32 laboratories in 20 developing countries around the world. Over 800 hundred novel viruses were found, based on molecular characterisation and on the percentage sequence identity between established species, in addition to over a hundred known viruses. Conclusion: Implementation of the PREDICT surveillance strategy and prioritization process has improved the capacity in hotspot countries to detect and respond to emerging disease threats.

Source: International Journal of Infectious Diseases

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2016.11.086