Stopping the spread of wildlife diseases
Seventy-five per cent of all human diseases from the last two decades are of wildlife origin. The spread of wildlife diseases is often caused by viruses evolving in response to changes in the human population, host-pathogen relationship or environmental pollution. Until now, there has been no coordinated effort to monitor the spread of infection within and between different countries in the EU. To address this problem, the 'Novel technologies for surveillance of emerging and re-emerging infections of wildlife' (WILDTECH) project devised a technology platform for high-throughput disease diagnosis in wild animals. WILDTECH research members designed high-throughput diagnostic tests to identify more than 200 pathogens in wildlife populations, and more in-depth methods for 20 priority diseases. This technology allows the EU to continuously monitor the spread of wildlife diseases and evaluate potential risks to the human population. Investigators established a pathogen database to store all the information about samples tested in the project. Part of the data that related to pathogen characterisation was forwarded to the Wildpro electronic encyclopaedia. WILDTECH also developed statistical tests to predict disease outbreaks in the EU and surrounding countries. This has been incorporated into a multi-host disease model essential for epidemiologists across the EU. Ultimately, this work will help prevent the spread of disease, thereby reducing the mortality rate and improving welfare for both human and animal populations.
Keywords
Wildlife, wildlife diseases, surveillance system, emerging infections, pathogen database
