The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global framework to investigate the origins of new and re-emerging pathogens.
Developed with the support of the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Emerging Pathogens (SAGO), the comprehensive guidance aims to help member states conduct thorough scientific investigations into the sources of new pathogens, WHO said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the global health agency, this pioneering framework fills a critical gap in the existing toolkit for outbreak investigations, providing a structured approach to understanding the origins of novel pathogens.
He said that as the world continues to battle the threat of emerging diseases such as Ebola, Nipah and SARS-CoV-2, this framework is a timely and vital resource.
Re-emergence of Ebola and other diseases
The resurgence of Ebola, Nipah and SARS-CoV-2 has important public health implications.
Ebola re-emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2018, causing the second-largest outbreak in history, and has continued to cause sporadic cases and flare-ups in Africa.
Nipah virus, a deadly zoonotic virus spread through animal-human contact, contaminated food, or human-to-human transmission, and causing respiratory and brain diseases with high mortality, has periodically re-emerged, mainly in Southeast Asia, with recent outbreaks in India and Bangladesh resulting in significant morbidity and mortality.
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The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has devastated the world since 2020, with continued transmission and the emergence of new variants.
These re-emerging diseases highlighted the importance of WHO's global framework for investigating the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens, enabling rapid action to prevent and contain future outbreaks.
WHO stresses that the ability to rapidly contain outbreaks and identify their origins is more important than ever, with significant scientific, moral and financial implications. This framework serves as a practical guide, which will be regularly updated based on user feedback.
By providing a unified approach to investigating the origins of pathogens, WHO aims to improve global preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks, ultimately protecting human and animal health worldwide.
Structure
The organization stated that the global framework for investigating the origins of new pathogens consists of six key elements: early investigations to identify sources of exposure and pathogen characteristics, human studies to understand epidemiology and transmission, human-animal interface studies to identify animal reservoirs, environmental studies to investigate insect vectors and environmental presence, genomics and phylogenetics to analyze pathogen evolution, and biosafety studies to determine whether laboratory violations contributed to the outbreak, adding that this structured approach helps to understand the origins of new pathogens.
He also revealed that the framework guides researchers in tracing new pathogen origins, promoting rapid information sharing and a One Health approach to prevent global health crises.
Rapid and transparent exchange of results
WHO explained that to achieve the framework's objectives, countries need to conduct research into the origins of new pathogens and share their initial findings rapidly, comprehensively and transparently as soon as the results are available, stating that this timely exchange of information is crucial to ensure the rapid implementation of measures to mitigate further transmission, prevent new spillover events and ultimately prevent future pandemics.
By sharing findings quickly and transparently, countries can facilitate a coordinated global response, accelerate the development of effective countermeasures and protect public health worldwide, WHO said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said understanding the origins of epidemics is a scientific and moral imperative.
He said: “Understanding when, where, how and why epidemics and pandemics begin is both a scientific imperative to prevent future outbreaks and a moral imperative for the sake of those who lose their lives to them.
“This framework provides for the first time comprehensive guidance on the studies needed to investigate the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. Had it been in place when COVID-19 occurred, the search for information on its origins might have been less contentious and more successful. WHO continues to call on China to share all information it has on the origins of COVID-19, so that all hypotheses can be investigated.”
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About SAGO
SAGO was established in November 2021, comprised of independent global experts, with the mission of developing a global framework for understanding the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens, identifying the best technical and scientific approaches.
As part of WHO's enhanced health emergency preparedness and prevention system, SAGO works with WHO, Member States, and health and scientific partners to strengthen global health security.