Emerging viral diseases in Africa
Viral pathogens are of growing concern for human and animal health in Africa for several reasons: viral pathogens are disproportionately represented among human emerging diseases (e.g. avian influenza H5N1, Ebola virus, Marburg, Rift Valley Fever); viruses cause a high proportion of transboundary animal diseases that act as a major constraint to the development of livestock economies and contribute significantly to rural poverty (for example, foot-and-mouth disease, malignant catarrhal fever); and viruses predominate as the cause of infectious diseases that threaten endangered wildlife species (such as rabies, canine distemper virus, Ebola virus, feline leukemia virus).
This programme focuses on developing methodological tools that enable the translation of epidemiological theory into operational protocols for improving the effectiveness of disease control programs in the field. From exotic disease outbreaks to new and emerging viral zoonoses in East African ecosystems, the programme is geographically extensive. The study of viral pathogens in their natural ecological context are already being applied to viruses of interest to the CVR, including feline immunodeficiency virus, canine distemper virus, canine papillomavirus, and alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 and ovine herpesvirus 2, the causative agents of malignant catarrhal fever. A Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded initiative is implementing large-scale rabies vaccination of domestic dogs in Tanzania, South Africa, and the Philippines, alleviating animal suffering and preventing cross-species transmission. This programme embraces fully the "One Health" initiative.
- Biek, Dr Roman (Lecturer)
- Cleaveland, Dr Sarah (Professor of Comparative Epidemiology)
- Haydon, Prof Daniel (Professor of Population Ecology and Epidemiology)
- Murcia, Mr Pablo (Wellcome Trust Research Fellow)