EpiCenter for Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence

Project Summary/Abstract: The Epicenter for Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence brings together a consortium of leading research institutions to advance an understanding of viral emergence from wildlife into humans living in forest and rapidly urbanizing ecosystems. Our work will enhance preparedness for disease emergence events in the Congo Basin and Amazon Basin forest regions and facilitate response efforts at the source of emergence. Our multidisciplinary team has internationally recognized expertise in infectious disease epidemiology, virology, human health, animal health, medical entomology, microbiology, and disease modeling. Our proposed activities integrate human, animal, and vector surveillance to enable insight into cross-species disease transmission and facilitate responsiveness to evolving needs that impact country, regional, and global emerging infectious disease risk. In our initial work, we propose to investigate the epidemiology of arboviruses and filoviruses, which include emerging viruses currently threatening global health security. We will evaluate disease transmission dynamics at the primary stage of emergence in humans, in forest communities where people are highly susceptible to virus spillover from wildlife and mosquitos. We will also investigate these viruses in the second stage of emergence, in urban centers peripherally connected to forests, where viruses have adapted to human-to-human transmission (by direct or vector-borne transmission). Targeted filoviruses and arboviruses at proposed sites in Uganda and Peru represent a range of emergence histories, from recent emergence events, to seasonal and annual re- emergence events, to introduction events where viruses have adapted to entirely new ecosystems, vectors, and vertebrate hosts. Research at these sites will advance our understanding of cross-species transmission for viruses across this spectrum of emergence. Our work will optimize best practices in acute febrile illness surveillance in high-risk communities coupled with wildlife and entomologic risk characterization studies to facilitate deployment of next generation techniques in early detection of virus emergence and monitoring of sustained transmission in at-risk communities. Our consortium has a demonstrated commitment to strengthening international capabilities for emerging infectious disease research in resource-limited countries. We are well- poised to contribute to important advances in capacity in the Amazon and Congo Basin forest region with partners in Uganda and Peru for completion of our proposed project and long-term sustainability for the greater region and across the Emerging Infectious Disease Research Center network.