Enhancing laboratory preparedness for the detection and control of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases – ZODIAC in Africa

Multiple zoonotic diseases have impacted public health, peoples’ livelihoods, and the global economy in the last few decades. The COVID-19 pandemic is the most recent severe threat, which will have a long-term and far-reaching influence on the population and economy worldwide.
Surveillance and early detection tools and technologies are the critical links in the chain of disease control. They enable the rapid discovery of source and movement of pathogens as well as analysis, planning, and decision-making through the design and implementation of preventive or control measures.
Nuclear, nuclear-derived and related techniques are reliable tools that can help scientists to investigate, prevent, detect, and contain outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. In addition, the IAEA has considerable experience in assisting the Member States in building their capacity to detect and characterize pathogens early and diagnose diseases rapidly and accurately. Moreover, the IAEA has developed or contributed to developing early detection and characterization tools, nowadays recognized as international testing standards.
Over the last few decades, technological development has enabled miniaturization and multiplexing of diagnostic assays, thus opening new windows in understanding the ecology and evolution of zoonotic pathogens. Next-generation sequencing, nanopore sequencing, and metagenomics-based approaches will enable novel pathogen characterization and discovery and will help to find potential reservoirs, vectors and additional susceptible hosts for known zoonotic pathogens.
The ZODIAC CRP for Africa aims to develop and validate immunological and molecular tools under Pillar 2 of the ZODIAC project. The running title of the CRP is: “Enhancing laboratory preparedness for the detection and control of emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases – ZODIAC in Africa.”