Synergistic China–US Ecological Research is Essential for Global Emerging Infectious Disease Preparedness

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Tierra Smiley Evans, University of California, Davis; Zhengli Shi, Wuhan Institute of Virology Chinese Academy of Sciences; Michael Boots, University of California, Berkeley; Wenjun Liu, Institute of Microbiology Chinese Academy of Sciences; Kevin J. Olival, EcoHealth Alliance; Xiangming Xiao, University of Oklahoma; Sue Vandewoude, Colorado State University; Heidi Brown, University of Arizona; Ji-Long Chen, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University; David Civitello, Emory University; Luis Escobar, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Yrjo Grohn, Cornell University; Hongying Li, EcoHealth Alliance; Karen Lips, University of Maryland; Qiyoung Liu, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Jiahai Lu, Sun Yat-Sen University; Beatriz Martínez-López, University of California, Davis; Jishu Shi, Kansas State University; Xiaolu Shi, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Biao Xu, Fudan University; Lihong Yuan, Guangdong College of Pharmacy; Guoqiang Zhu, Yangzhou University; Wayne M. Getz, University of KwaZulu-Natal
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-03-01
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: 2020 The Author(s).
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10393-020-01471-2
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: EcoHealth
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 160
• End Page: 173
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported by NSF Grant 1832725 to WMG and MB (PIs).; Tierra Smiley Evans was supported by an NIH Fogarty International Center K01 Grant (TW010279-04), Yrjo Grohn was supported by USDA-NIFA AFRI 2014-67015-2240 as part of the joint USDA-NSF-NIH-BBSRC-BSF EEID program, Jishu Shi was supported by the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Transition Fund and USDA ARS Specific Cooperative Agreement (59-5430-001-23S, NP-103), Lihong Yuan was supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (31872499), Heidi Brown was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award number K01AI101224, Wayne M. Getz was additionally supported by NIH GM117617 and NSF EEID 1617982, and Mike Boots was additionally supported by NIH/ GM122061 and BBSRC BB/L010879/1.
• Keywords: Humans; International Cooperation; Animals; Pandemic; Training; Pandemics; Preparedness; Ecology; Animals, Wild; Emerging infectious diseases; USA; Global Health; China; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Zoonoses; Communicable Diseases
• Research Categories: Environmental Sciences; Biology, Veterinary Science; Biology, Microbiology; Biology, Virology

Abstract

The risk of a zoonotic pandemic disease threatens hundreds of millions of people. Emerging infectious diseases also threaten livestock and wildlife populations around the world and can lead to devastating economic damages. China and the USA—due to their unparalleled resources, widespread engagement in activities driving emerging infectious diseases and national as well as geopolitical imperatives to contribute to global health security—play an essential role in our understanding of pandemic threats. Critical to efforts to mitigate risk is building upon existing investments in global capacity to develop training and research focused on the ecological factors driving infectious disease spillover from animals to humans. International cooperation, particularly between China and the USA, is essential to fully engage the resources and scientific strengths necessary to add this ecological emphasis to the pandemic preparedness strategy. Here, we review the world’s current state of emerging infectious disease preparedness, the ecological and evolutionary knowledge needed to anticipate disease emergence, the roles that China and the USA currently play as sources and solutions to mitigating risk, and the next steps needed to better protect the global community from zoonotic disease.