Capacity building for the Detection and Prevention of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases in Tropical Africa

在撒哈拉以南非洲的热带雨林地区，人们依靠自给性狩猎，处理和消费灵长类肉类被认为是人畜共患病传播的重要风险因素。由于人口扩张，对丛林肉的需求日益增长，这增加了人类感染新的猿类变种病毒的风险。与此同时，撒哈拉以南非洲地区人类传染病的流行普遍增加，这使得人类经典病原体与同一病毒科的猿类病原体混合感染的可能性增加。这些双重感染对新病毒的出现具有很高的风险，因为这些病毒可能会重组并改变致病特性，这可能有助于适应新的宿主。更高的当地流动性，更多的全球旅行，以及丛林肉贸易远远超出国界，包括中欧市场，都促进了人畜共患病病原体的进一步分布。在两个地区进行的一项研究，一个侧重于原始狩猎采集社区，另一个侧重于商业丛林肉贸易高度发达的地区，将提供有关选定病毒的行为和社会文化特征、混合感染、重组和传播方式等风险因素的详细数据。通过这项研究，我们建立的跨学科联盟，包括人类和兽医的诊断学、流行病学和疾病建模学科，以及民族学和生态学学科，不仅将提供有关出现新病毒变异的关键数据，还将建设人畜共患病和新出现疾病的调查能力。此外，南北学生三明治计划和培训课程还将有助于建立研究平台，为当前和未来的非德合作服务。

In rainforest-areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where people rely on subsistence hunting, handling and consumption of primate meat are considered important risk factors for the transmission of zoonotic diseases. Through population expansion there is a growing demand for bush-meat which increases the risk of human infections with new simian variants of viruses. At the same time there is a general increase in prevalence of human infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, which makes co-infections of classical human pathogens with simian pathogens of the same virus family more likely. These dual infections present a high risk for new virus emergence since such viruses may recombine and have altered pathogenic properties which may facilitate adaptation to the new host. Higher local mobility, increased global travel, and extension of the bushmeat trade far beyond national boundaries including central European markets, facilitate the further distribution of zoonotic pathogens. A study performed in two regions, one focused on an original hunter-gatherer community and another one focused on a region with high degree of commercial bushmeat trade will deliver detailed data on risk factors such as behavioural and sociocultural characteristics, co-infections, recombination and modes of transmission of selected viruses. Through this study, our established interdisciplinary consortium comprising human- and veterinary medical disciplines for diagnostics, epidemiology and disease modelling as well as ethnological and ecological disciplines will not only provide key data on the emergence of new variants of viruses, but will also build capacity for the investigation of zoonotic and emerging diseases. A south-north student sandwich program and training courses will in addition contribute to the creation of research platforms that will serve current and future African-German cooperation.