NIH Sets up Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases for Rapid Responses to New Viruses Like SARS-CoV-2

The National Institutes of Health (NIH Bethesda, MA, USA) has established the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID), a global network that will involve multi-disciplinary investigations into how and where viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens emerge from wildlife and spillover to cause disease in people.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded 11 grants with a total first-year value of approximately USD 17 million to establish the CREID. Each center in the network will involve collaborations with peer institutions in the US and 28 other countries. Research projects will include surveillance studies to identify previously unknown causes of febrile illnesses in humans; find the animal sources of viral or other disease-causing pathogens; and determine what genetic or other changes make these pathogens capable of infecting humans. CREID investigators also will develop reagents and diagnostic assays to improve detection of emerging pathogens and study human immune responses to new or emerging infectious agents. Overall, the breadth of research projects in the CREID network will allow for study of disease spillover in multiple phases of the process: where pathogens first emerge from an animal host; at the borders between wild and more populated areas, where human-to-human transmission occurs; and, finally, in urban areas, where epidemic spread can occur.

Each center will focus efforts on one or more regions of the world. In Central and South America, for example, studies will include investigations of several arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), including the ones that cause Zika virus disease, chikungunya and dengue. In East and Central Africa, focus pathogens will include Rift Valley fever virus and the coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome. In West Africa, in addition to arboviruses, projects are slated on Ebola virus and Lassa virus. In Asia and Southeast Asia, investigators will conduct research on coronaviruses and arboviruses. In every region, investigators will be poised to study any newly emerging pathogen, dubbed “pathogen X.”

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a potent reminder of the devastation that can be wrought when a new virus infects humans for the first time,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci. “The CREID network will enable early warnings of emerging diseases wherever they occur, which will be critical to rapid responses. The knowledge gained through this research will increase our preparedness for future outbreaks.”

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