In late Julyof 2016, more than a dozenLiberian researchers set up a makeshift lab at the edge of therainforest in their nation’snorthern, which shares theborder withGuinea. Liberia is home toandhouses some of the world’s rarest animalspecies, including the Liberian mongoose and pygmy hippos. But Jackson Poultolnor and the other researchers, all clad inrubber boots, N95 masks,face shields, leather welding gloves, andTyvek suits, were there for bats.
Bats have been a source of food in Africa and other parts of the planetfor thousands of years.When Poultolnorwas a child, hismotherprepared the meat in a sweet stew for him and his eight siblings. But the mammalis also a reservoir of pathogens and to be the source of the 2013 Ebola virus outbreak, which led to more than 11,000 deaths across this region. SoPoultolnor and his teamventured into thedense vegetation to bind mist nets totrees in order to capture and study the animal. It was Liberia’s firstwildlife-surveillance operation, and it was conducted as a partof, an organization launched in 2009 by theU.S. Agency for International Development’s(USAID)to monitor infectious diseases.
Since the organization’s inception,American epidemiologists and sociologists have trained over6,000 researchers in more than 30 developing countries to seekout zoonotic diseases in wildlife andcollaboratewith local officialsto head off new outbreaks. Predict teams across the globe have discovered , including Ebola viruses and SARS-like coronaviruses.
In January2019, after sampling over 5,000 batsevery twoweeksfor more than two years, the Liberian Predictteam found for Ebola. It was the first time the type of Ebola virus responsible for the 2013epidemic was detected in a Liberian bat. The discovery could help scientists learn more about how that virus infected humansand, by extension, how to prevent other zoonotic diseases with pandemic potentialfrom spreading.
A few months later, in the fall of 2019,the Trump administration for Predict, leaving more than around the world in limbo.
At the heart of the Predictproject are the principles laid out by the , which seeks to foster collaborations between professionals in various science fieldsthat will benefit thewell-being of humans, animals, and the environment.
It’s an all-in-one philosophy that has deep historical roots. Hinduism’s ahimsa dictates that all living things are sacred because they are part of God and the natural world. Totemism, popular among may African tribes, positsa kinship between humans andwildlife.Similarly, One Health,which was started byveterinarians and doctors in the United States , looksto understand the human-wildlife interface,encouraginginterdisciplinary collaborations in governent and academia, discouraging human encroachmenton natural habitats, and callingfor the extensive surveillance of pathogens.
There are lurking in animal hosts across the globe, and more than 650,000 have the potential toinfect people, according to researchers at the at the University of California atDavis. In fact, nearly 75 percent of the diseases affecting humans today stemfrom wildlife. SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the current pandemic,is thought to have originated in bats and believed to have beentransmittedto humans via at an open-air market in Wuhan, China.
In addition to the vast number of viruses, scientists at the One Health Institutesaythat virusesare alsomutating faster than ever. Urbanization and climate change, as well as activities like logging, poaching, andanimaltrafficking, have shrunk and fragmented natural habitats, which in turn has led toincreasedcontact between humans and wildlife and more opportunities for viral mutation.
“Trying to find these viruses in the wild is like finding a needle in a haystack,” says, an American field veterinarian who was appointed by the Obama administration to lead Predictin Liberia. That doesn’t mean it’s worthless to try. Although it cost $20 million to operate Predicteach year, some have estimated that the currentCOVID-19outbreak could cost the world . A future pandemic could cost much more.
Though Predictfailed to identifythe virus that results inCOVID-19,a Predict-supported publication by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology back in 2015 warned about in China and Southeast Asia.
On April 1, as confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassed onemillion in the U.S.and threemillion worldwide, Predictreceived from USAID to focuson the coronavirus. But the money was far from enough to host teams in different countries.Luckily, in May, USAID announced a new project:set to launch thisSeptember, will leverage the data collected by Predictto develop interventions that willreduce the risk of the transmission of dangerous pathogens passing from animals to people.
For too long, when it comes to disease outbreaks, there’s been a cycle of panic (as threats ramp up) and neglect (when they subside), saysTierra Smiley Evans, a wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist at the One Health Institute. She hopes this pandemic will result in something different. “We can’t leave a single country out in understanding the importance of the connection between human and animal health and working together on the prevention of the next pandemic,” she says. “Through the tragedy that is happening now to the planet, I hope we come out stronger on the other end.”