By Kylie Bull
HSToday, Special to In Homeland Security
Experts will be able to better track and detect zoonotic diseases that could eventually be transmitted to humans as a result of a new EUR2.7 million International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project.
Over 20 experts from 13 countries met in Uganda at the end of February to firm up plans to improve regional capacity for the early detection of such zoonotic diseases, including Ebola.
“One of the issues during the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa was lack of preparedness,” said Michel Warnau, who oversees the project at the IAEA. “Through this project, we intend to reinforce existing capacities to diagnose zoonotic diseases early in order to better anticipate risks of outbreaks in human populations and implement appropriate preventive and control measures.”
The IAEA initiative supports the regional strategies of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to strengthen the cooperation between human health and animal health experts and to increase preparedness. Experts from WHO and FAO also attended the Uganda meeting.
The technical cooperation project will initially run for two years to train and equip diagnostic teams to better monitor wildlife and livestock for zoonotic diseases that could have major impacts on humans. Priority will be given to viral hemorrhagic diseases such as Ebola, Marburg virus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. The Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Applications in Food and Agriculture will provide technical support to the project.
Recent Ebola outbreaks have had a major human, social and economic impact in West Africa. Since WHO reported a major outbreak of Ebola in Guinea nearly one year ago, the disease has claimed the lives of nearly 10,000 victims across Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and elsewhere. In order to help limit the spread of diseases such as these, early detection in animals and wildlife is critical, Warnau said.
As human populations grow and spread into previously isolated environments, more and more people come into contact with formerly untouched wildlife and diseases they carry. Experts predict that in the future, outbreaks of current and new zoonotic diseases could be more diverse and even more severe than those the world has faced so far.
Read the full article at HSToday.
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