Anticipating the Species Jump: Surveillance for Emerging Viral Threats
Abstract
Emerging infectious diseases (EID) pose international security threats because of their potential to inflict harm upon humans, crops, livestock, health infrastructure, and economies. Some zoonotic (animal) viruses pose unique challenges because of their ability to infect new host species. For example, influenza and human immunodeficiency viruses originally infected animals, but subsequent mutations enabled these viruses to jump to new human hosts. Zoonotic disease surveillance is typically triggered after animal pathogens have infected humans. Yet, what might be achieved by surveillance that precedes human infection? Can it be done? How? Where? By whom? On 3-4 December 2009, the Advanced Systems and Concepts Office of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA-ASCO) convened a workshop of experts to conceptualize the future of predictive surveillance for viruses that jump from animals to infect humans.Virologists, ecologists, and computational biologists from academia, US Government and nongovernmental organizations discussed opportunities as well as obstacles to prediction of species jumps using genetic and ecological determinants from virus, host, vector and reservoir.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA556992
Entities
People
- Colin R Parrish
- Gregory E. Glass
- Meg L. Flanagan
- Robin M. Bush
- Sarah Cobey
- Terrance J. Leighton
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University