Project

To understand the risk of zoonotic outbreaks, a comprehensive understanding of local scale infection dynamics needs to be developed. To this end, samples from small bodied wild animals, domestic animals, and humans will be collected in a systematic, structured sampling regime in two landscape types (highly agricultural and semi-natural) over three years in The Gambia and Nigeria. For a select group of high-risk viral pathogens, contact networks will be build for all local actors involved in transmission, and participatory modelling and ethnographic methods will be employed to gain deeper insight into how humans interact with this network. Finally, a socio-ecological systems modeling approach will be used to predict risks both across the landscapes and in plausible future scenarios to inform outbreak preparedness and management strategies. This will be done in a dynamic way and in consensus with a group of representatives from the selected involved communities and stakeholders. A better understanding how pathogen contact networks vary over time and space will help to better prepare for, predict and prevent future outbreaks and pandemics.

• Prof. Dr. Johanna Hanefeld

  Robert-Koch-Institut
  Zentrum für Internationalen Gesundheitsschutz
  Berlin
  

• Dr. Almudena Mari-Saez

  L'Institut de recherche pour le
  développement (IRD)
  TransVHIMI Unit
  Montpellier
  France
  

• Dr. Anise Happi

  Redeemer's University
  ACEGID African Center of Excellence
  for Genomics of infectious Diseases
  Ede- Oshogbo road
  Nigeria
  

• Dr. Abdul Karim Sesay

  Medical Research Council
  Genomics
  Banjul
  Gambia
  

• Dr. Kris Murray

  Medical Research Council
  Planetary Health
  Banjul
  Gambia
  

• Dr. David Redding

  Zoological Society of London
  Institute of Zoology
  London
  United Kingdom