International Partnership To Fight Deadly Viruses

An international partnership has been set up to help pre-empt and prepare the world for the next human pandemic.

Asian Scientist (Jul. 31, 2013) – Researchers from Australia, Singapore and the US are joining forces, through a US$18.2 million partnership, to help pre-empt and prepare the world for the next human pandemic.

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore have signed a relationship agreement with a view to forming the International Collaborative Center for One Health to assist in taking a new approach to tackling deadly viruses such as SARS and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

Dr Linfa Wang, CSIRO Science Leader and Director of the Program in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS, said that responding to these emerging threats needs a different approach to the past and must integrate medical, veterinary, ecological and environmental research.

“Bringing all of these disciplines together to develop a One Health approach rather than working independently is what our new international partnership is all about,” said Dr Wang.

“We are combining CSIRO’s world-leading bat virology research with Duke-NUS medical expertise in the development of new and more effective methods for the discovery, treatment, prevention and control of new and emerging diseases in people.”

Research is already underway with the team at Duke-NUS working to develop new tests for early and rapid detection of emerging infectious diseases, such as Hendra virus and coronaviruses.

CSIRO scientists with expertise in bat virology will then test and validate these new platforms at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, the world’s most advanced high containment facility, located in Geelong Victoria.

This work builds on CSIRO’s exertise in biosecurity research which has led to a biological control for one of the world’s most invasive pests – the silverleaf whitefly – and the recent development of an equine Hendra virus vaccine.

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Source: CSIRO; Photo: kat m research/Flickr.
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