ZikaPLAN: 25 Research Organizations Unite to Fight Zika Virus and Build Long-term Outbreak Response Capacity in Latin America

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Oct 25, 2016, 04:38 ET

RECIFE, Brazil, October 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

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25 leading research and public health organizations from Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe gathered in Recife for the launch of ZikaPLAN (Zika Preparedness Latin American Network). This global initiative, created in response to a Horizon 2020 funding call by the European Commission's Directorate-General Research and Innovation, has been formed to address the Zika virus outbreak and the many research and public health challenges it poses. The initiative takes a comprehensive approach to tackle the Zika threat by:

addressing the knowledge gaps and needs in the current Zika outbreak to better understand the disease, prevent its spread and educate the affected populations,
building a sustainable response capacity in Latin America for Zika and other emerging infectious diseases (EID).

The impact of the Zika outbreak took scientists and public health authorities by surprise and hit the most vulnerable populations the hardest. The severity of the outbreak and mutation of the virus have generated numerous research questions. To take effective measures, health authorities need to know the severity of the disease and its impact on public health, what interventions will work to prevent and stop its spread, and how best to manage and treat those who have been infected. This unprecedented Zika outbreak has also highlighted the need to build local capacities: in some of the regions where the virus struck there was not the necessary research infrastructure to understand the threat and take action quickly.

To bridge these gaps, research organizations in the ZikaPLAN consortium will look at Zika's connection with congenital syndromes and neurological complications, and the pathogenesis of severe cases, through a series of clinical studies. They will explore non-vector and vector transmission and risk factors for geographic spread, measure the burden of disease and investigate how the virus has evolved, comparing current and historic strains. ZikaPLAN will look at novel personal preventive measures, innovation in diagnostics and modelling of vector control and vaccine strategies to inform policy decisions. The social sciences will also play a role in ZikaPLAN, which aims to determine the best communication strategies to keep the affected communities informed.

ZikaPLAN will work closely with two other European Union-funded consortia, ZIKAction and ZikAlliance, to establish a Latin American and Caribbean network. This network will address the broader issue of building local capacity in Latin America to prepare for and rapidly launch a large-scale research response to emerging infectious disease threats. ZikaPLAN will contribute to developing an inter-epidemic research plan, policy recommendations, training, research networks and dissemination strategies that are designed to permanently strengthen local capacities, beyond the four years of the project. The three consortia will set up common bodies for the global management of scientific programs, communication, and ethical, regulatory and legal issues.

ZikaPLAN is receiving a €11.5 million grant from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement number 734584.

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About the ZikaPLAN Consortium

ZikaPLAN is coordinated by an Executive Board comprised of Prof. Annelies Wilder-Smith as director, representing the University of Umeå, Prof. Eduardo Massad, as deputy director, representing the Fundação de Apoio à Universidade de São Paulo and 15 Work Package leaders from partner organizations. Independent ethical, scientific and industrial advisory boards provide guidance.

The consortium builds on expertise and existing relationships in a variety of research areas related to Zika and emerging infectious diseases. Members come from 5 continents, with 13 from Europe, 8 from Latin America, 2 from the United States, 1 from Africa and 1 from Asia.

ZikaPLAN consortium members:

Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium
Associação Técnica-Científica de Estudo Colaborativo Latino Americano de Malformações Congênitas, Brazil
Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Fondation Mérieux, France
Fundação de Apoio à Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Fundação Oswaldo Fiocruz, Brazil
Fundación Universidad del Norte, Colombia
Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal
Institut Pasteur, France
Instituto Butantan, Brazil
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kourí, Cuba
International Vaccine Institute, Republic of Korea
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, USA
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Queen Mary University of London, UK
Schweizerisches Tropen- und Public Health-Institut, Switzerland
The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, UK
The University of Liverpool, UK
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Ulster University, UK
Umeå University, Sweden
Universidad del Valle, Colombia
Universidade de Pernambuco, Brazil
University of Glasgow, UK