Ecohealth Alliance Inc

USAID CWA IS TO CONSERVE THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES BY STRENGTHENING PROTECTED AREAS AND HELPING COMMUNITIES BE LESS RELIANT ON PROTECTED RESOURCES FOR THEIR LIVELIHOODS.

UNDERSTANDING THE RISK OF BAT-BORNE ZOONOTIC DISEASE EMERGENCE IN WESTERN ASIA

REDUCING THE THREAT OF RIFT VALLEY FEVER THROUGH ECOLOGY, EPIDEMIOLOGY AND SOCIO-ECONOMICS

UNDERSTANDING RIFT VALLEY FEVER IN THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

UNDERSTANDING RISK OF ZOONOTIC VIRUS EMERGENCE IN EID HOTSPOTS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

REDUCING THE THREAT OF MIDDLE EAST RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS AND AVIAN INFLUENZA IN JORDAN&STRENGTHENING REGIONAL DISEASE SURVEILLANCE CAPACITY

THE ECOLOGY, EMERGENCE AND PANDEMIC POTENTIAL OF NIPAH VIRUS IN BANGLADESH

REDUCING THE THREAT FROM HIGH-RISK PATHOGENS CAUSING FEBRILE ILLNESS IN LIBERIA

CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER: REDUCING AN EMERGING HEALTH THREAT IN TANZANIA.

UNDERSTANDING THE RISK OF BAT CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCE

RISK OF VIRAL EMERGENCE FROM BATS

LAND USE CHANGE & DISEASE EMERGENCE

SEROLOGICAL BIOSURVEILLANCE FOR SPILLOVER OF HENIPAVIRUSES AND FILOVIRUSES AT AGRICULTURAL AND HUNTING HUMANANIMAL INTERFACES IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

STUDY OF NIPAH VIRUS DYNAMICS AND GENETICS IN ITS BAT RESERVOIR AND OF HUMAN EXPOSURE TO NIV ACROSS BANGLADESH TO UNDERSTAND PATTERNS OF HUMAN OUTBREAKS

BIOSURVEILLANCE FOR SPILLOVER OF HENIPAVIRUSES AND FILOVIRUSES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN INDIA.

REDUCING THE THREAT OF VIRAL SPILLOVER FROM WILDLIFE IN THE PHILIPPINES

STRATEGIC COORDINATION TO STRENGTHEN AFRICOM ONE HEALTH AND VETERINARY PROGRAMS FOR GLOBAL HEALTH ENGAGEMENT STRENGTHENING MULTI-SECTORAL APPROACHES TO BIODEFENSE AND BIOSURVEILLANCE IN THE CAUCASUS

PREDICTING SPATIAL VARIATION IN WEST NILE VIRUS TRANSMISSION

PREDICTING BIOTHREAT IMPACTS FROM EARLY-STAGE DATA VIA TRANSFER LEARNING.

RCN: ECOHEALTH NET 2.0: A ONE HEALTH APPROACH TO DISEASE ECOLOGY RESEARCH & EDUCATION

ECOHEALTHNET: ECOLOGY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH RESEARCH NETWORK

HSD: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HUMAN-RELATED FACTORS AFFECTING EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

RISK FOR FUTURE OUTBREAKS OF HENIPAVIRUSES IN SOUTH ASIA

ANALYZING THE POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE BAT CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCE IN MYANMAR, LAOS, AND VIETNAM - 1 TWO MAJOR CORONAVIRAL DISEASES OF WILDLIFE ORIGIN HAVE EMERGED IN ASIA IN THE LAST TWO DECADES. BOTH LIKELY 2 BEGAN AS ZOONOTIC SPILLOVER EVENTS, LEADING TO SMALL CASE CLUSTERS, BUT WERE NOT IDENTIFIED UNTIL SIGNIFICANT 3 COMMUNITY SPREAD MADE CONTROL DIFFICULT, AND IN THE CASE OF COVID-19, LED TO A PANDEMIC. OUR PRIOR WORK AND 4 PRELIMINARY DATA SHOW THAT SOUTHEAST ASIA HAS A HIGH DIVERSITY OF WILDLIFE CORONAVIRUSES (COVS), A LARGE 5 PROPORTION OF THE POPULATION WITH FREQUENT OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE TO WILDLIFE, AND LIMITED 6 SURVEILLANCE AT RURAL SITES WHERE OUTBREAKS LIKELY BEGIN. OUR HOTSPOTS RISK MAPPING SUGGESTS COUNTRIES DIRECTLY 7 TO THE SOUTH OF CHINA; MYANMAR, LAOS AND VIETNAM IN PARTICULAR; CONTAIN REGIONS WITH HUMAN-WILDLIFE INTERFACES 8 AND LIKELY REGULAR SPILLOVER OF NOVEL COVS FROM BATS AND OTHER WILDLIFE. OUR PRELIMINARY FIELD STUDIES HAVE 9 IDENTIFIED NOVEL VIRUSES RELATED TO KNOWN ZOONOSES IN BATS AND OTHER WILDLIFE FROM EACH OF THESE COUNTRIES AND 10 COMMUNITIES WITH SEROLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF NOVEL COV EXPOSURE. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF OUR WORK IS TO ANALYZE 11 THE BEHAVIORAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS FOR SPILLOVER OF NOVEL COVS, IDENTIFY WILDLIFE-TO-HUMAN SPILLOVER 12 EVENTS, ASSESS THE RISK AND DRIVERS OF COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION AND SPREAD, AND TEST POTENTIAL PUBLIC HEALTH 13 INTERVENTIONS TO DISRUPT SPILLOVER AND SPREAD. TO ACHIEVE THIS, WE PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING: 14 SPECIFIC AIM 1) COMMUNITY-BASED SURVEYS AND BIOLOGICAL SAMPLING OF PEOPLE FREQUENTLY EXPOSED TO WILDLIFE IN 15 MYANMAR, LAOS, AND VIETNAM, TO FIND SEROLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF SPILLOVER AND ASSESS BEHAVIORAL, SOCIAL STRUCTURE, 16 SPATIAL CONNECTIVITY AND MOBILITY FACTORS THAT LEAD TO EXPOSURE, SPILLOVER, AND SPREAD; 17 SPECIFIC AIM 2) SAMPLING AND PCR SCREENING OF BATS AND OTHER WILDLIFE AT COMMUNITY SURVEILLANCE SITES TO 18 IDENTIFY VIRUSES AND HOSTS RELATED TO THE HUMAN INFECTIONS DETECTED IN AIM 1; FULL GENOME SEQUENCING AND CELL 19 ENTRY ASSAYS TO ASSESS ABILITY TO INFECT HUMAN CELLS; MACHINE LEARNING APPROACHES TO ESTIMATE ZOONOTIC 20 POTENTIAL OF EACH NOVEL COV; 21 SPECIFIC AIM 3) SYNDROMIC PCR-BASED SURVEILLANCE IN CLINICS TO IDENTIFY ‘CRYPTIC’ CASES OR CASE CLUSTERS CAUSED 22 BY BAT-COVS; CONTACT TRACING TO ASSESS WHETHER CASES REPRESENT INITIAL SPILLOVER OR COMMUNITY SPREAD EVENTS. 23 OUR RESULTS WILL PROVIDE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE RISK OF FUTURE COV SPILLOVER AND SPREAD AND WILL INFORM 24 POTENTIAL PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE SPILLOVER RISK AND OUTBREAK POTENTIAL. THEY MAY ALSO PROVIDE DATA 25 ON WILDLIFE RESERVOIRS AND COMMUNITY SPILLOVER EVENTS OF RELEVANCE TO THE ORIGIN OF COVID-19. FINALLY, WE WILL 26 RAPIDLY SUPPLY VIRAL SEQUENCES AND ISOLATES FOR USE IN VACCINE AND THERAPEUTIC DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING 27 “PROTOTYPE PATHOGEN” VACCINES, VIA AN EXISTING MOU WITH THE NIAID-CREID NETWORK. OUR LONG-TERM GOAL IS THAT 28 THIS WORK WILL ACT AS A MODEL TO BUILD PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS STRATEGIES TO BETTER PREDICT SITES AND COMMUNITIES 29 WHERE WILDLIFE-ORIGIN VIRUSES ARE LIKELY TO EMERGE, AND TO DISRUPT EMERGENCE IN EID HOTSPOTS AROUND THE WORLD. 30

COMPARATIVE SPILLOVER DYNAMICS OF AVIAN INFLUENZA IN ENDEMIC COUNTRIES

ECO HEALTH ALLIANCE - GEOMYCES DESTUCTANS, IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MIGRATION OF WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME BAT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BOCP-DESIGN US-SAO PAULO: LAND USE CHANGE, ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE AND ZOONOTIC SPILLOVER RISK -HABITAT LOSS AFFECTS PLANT AND ANIMAL ABUNDANCE, COMPOSITION, AND ECOLOGY. THESE CHANGES AFFECT HOW SPECIES INTERACT, LEADING TO CHANGES IN ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION AND SERVICES, INCLUDING THE TRANSMISSION OF PATHOGENS FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS (CALLED ZOONOTIC SPILLOVER). THE BRAZILIAN ATLANTIC FOREST IS RICH IN BIODIVERSITY, INCLUDING DIVERSE POPULATIONS OF RODENTS ALSO CONSIDERED RESERVOIRS FOR PATHOGENS. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE AREA IS A POTENTIAL HOTSPOT FOR FUTURE EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES. THE ATLANTIC FOREST HAS A DYNAMIC FOREST COVER WITH THOUSANDS OF HECTARES EXPERIENCING DEFORESTATION AND RESTORATION YEARLY. THESE DYNAMICS MAKE THE AREA IDEAL FOR STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF LANDSCAPE CHANGES ON SMALL MAMMAL COMMUNITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE TRANSMISSION OF PATHOGENS TO HUMANS. THE RESEARCH AIMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE REORGANIZATION OF BIODIVERSITY DUE TO LANDSCAPE CHANGES AFFECTS HUMAN HEALTH. THIS RESEARCH WILL INCREASE KNOWLEDGE ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN LANDSCAPE CHANGE, BIODIVERSITY LOSS, FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY CHANGE, AND SPILLOVER RISK. IN ADDITION, IT WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION TO DELINEATE POLICIES AND GUIDELINES TO MAINTAIN AND CREATE LANDSCAPES, WHICH CAN CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY AND DELIVER HEALTH-PROVISIONING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. RESULTS WILL BE COMMUNICATED TO STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING NGOS, GOVERNMENTS, RESEARCHERS, AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES. IN ADDITION, AWARENESS TALKS WILL INFORM COMMUNITIES ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAND CHANGE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES TO DECREASE SPILLOVER RISK AND PREVENT FUTURE PANDEMICS. ZOONOTIC DISEASES ARE CHARACTERIZED BY COMPLEX INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MULTIPLE SPECIES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT. BECAUSE OF THIS, THEY ARE EXPECTED TO BE AFFECTED BY LANDSCAPE CHARACTERISTICS. THE RESEARCH HAS TWO OBJECTIVES: 1) TO UNDERSTAND HOW HABITAT LOSS AND LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE AFFECT FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY, VIRAL DIVERSITY, NETWORK COMPOSITION, AND ZOONOTIC SPILLOVER RISK; AND 2) TO UNDERSTAND HOW FOREST RESTORATION CAN REINSTATE FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY, ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE, AND THE PROVISION OF DISEASE REGULATION SERVICES. FOR THE FIRST OBJECTIVE, THE RESEARCHERS WILL USE SECONDARY DATA TO ESTABLISH RODENT-PATHOGEN (VIRAL DIVERSITY) NETWORKS TO UNDERSTAND HOW FOREST COVER AND LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE AFFECT SPILLOVER RISK. RESULTS WILL BE EXTRAPOLATED TO THE ENTIRE ATLANTIC FOREST, CREATING A SPILLOVER RISK MAP THAT WILL HELP POLICYMAKERS AND STAKEHOLDERS TO CREATE POLICIES AND GUIDELINES. OBJECTIVE 2 WILL BE BASED ON PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION. THE RESEARCHERS WILL EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF FOREST RESTORATION ON THE RECOVERY OF SMALL MAMMAL SPECIES RICHNESS, THE RECOVERY OF FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY, THE REESTABLISHMENT OF INTERACTION NETWORK COMPOSITION (SMALL MAMMALS AND PATHOGEN NETWORKS), AND THE REDUCTION OF SPILLOVER RISK. FINALLY, THE INFLUENCE OF LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE AND THE RESTORATION AGE ON THE RECOVERY OF THE DISEASE REGULATION SERVICES WILL BE ASSESSED. THIS RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE THE KNOWLEDGE ON DISEASE ECOLOGY BY DEVELOPING TOOLS FOR PREDICTING THE EFFECTS OF LAND-USE CHANGE, INCLUDING FOREST RESTORATION, ON COMPLEX NETWORKS AND ZOONOTIC SPILLOVER RISK. KNOWLEDGE OF THE EFFECTS OF LAND-USE CHANGE ON SPILLOVER RISK IS ESSENTIAL, AS ZOONOTIC DISEASES HAVE COMPLEX TRANSMISSION CYCLES INVOLVING AGENTS THAT RESPOND DIFFERENTLY TO LANDSCAPE CHANGES. UNDERSTANDING HOW RESTORATION AFFECTS VIRAL DIVERSITY AND ZOONOTIC RISK IS CRITICAL TO DEVELOPING WIN-WIN STRATEGIES TO ENSURE HEALTHY LANDSCAPES FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS AND TO AVOID NEW EPIDEMICS AND PANDEMICS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

CONDUCT AN AVIAN INFLUENZE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM TO DETECT THE OCCURRENCE OF HIGHLY PATHOGENIC H5N1 AVIAN INFLUENZA IN MEXICO.

CONDUCT AN AVIAN INFLUENZE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM TO DETECT THE OCCURRENCE OF HIGHLY PATHOGENIC H5N1 AVIAN INFLUENZA IN MEXICO.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE COMMUNITY ECOLOGY OF VIRAL PATHOGENS - CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF COINFECTION IN HOSTS AND VECTORS

DEVELOPMENT OF A GREAT APE HEALTH UNIT IN SABAH, MALAYSIA

ECOSYSTEM APPROACH FOR BIODIVERSITY MONITORING AND CONSERVATION

US-CHINA ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOP; KUNMING, CHINA - OCTOBER, 2012

SEABIRD ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT NETWORK-SEANET