Emerging Zoonoses and Priority Pathogens

Organizers:
Selena M. Sagan, The University of British Columbia
Kanta Subbarao, Université Laval and University of Melbourne

Emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies of international concern, epidemics, and pandemics are predominantly zoonotic in origin, with over 70% originating from a wildlife source. While high-throughput sequencing enabled the rapid identification of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as the causative agent of COVID-19, the lack of outbreak mitigation expertise, infrastructure, surveillance strategies, and overall pandemic readiness limited our preparedness and response. Despite this recent experience, we remain unprepared for future pandemics despite our awareness of the ongoing global spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), monkeypox, and African swine fever and regional outbreaks of Nipah virus, Dengue virus, and Chikungunya virus. The goal of our satellite symposium is to bring together virologists, immunologists, biologists, and disease ecologists for talks and discussions to identify gaps in One Health competencies and promote best practices in emerging zoonoses research. This will serve as a venue for knowledge exchange across fields and between nations, as well as an update on cutting-edge research on emerging and re-emerging viral pathogens.