CLIMADE’s initial work will start with disease surveillance in Africa and expand to countries often impacted by infectious disease outbreaks caused by climate change
Abbott has announced that it is partnering with the Climate Amplified Disease and Epidemics (CLIMADE) consortium, a group of more than 100 global scientists in public health agencies, academia and industry focused on using data science technology and diagnostic testing to assess and potentially mitigate the impact climate change has on disease outbreaks.
A changing climate, such as warmer temperatures and a rise in extreme weather events like droughts and floods, has the potential to accelerate the spread of disease, which could fuel a new era of pandemics. Research has found that climate change could impact more than half of known infectious diseases, which commonly spread via water or animals carrying diseases, such as West Nile virus and malaria.
As part of the consortium, scientists trained in infectious diseases, bioinformatics and data science will develop technologies that can aggregate environmental, weather and viral sequencing data sets to predict if conditions could cause a disease outbreak. If a potential outbreak is identified, resources and rapid surveillance testing can be sent to that location to prevent further spread.
Gavin Cloherty, Head-Infectious disease research and the Pandemic Defense Coalition in Abbott’s diagnostics business said, “Imagine being able to track weather patterns to determine if rising floods may lead to a water-borne disease outbreak. Abbott’s work with CLIMADE is focused on tracking and predicting events so testing and medical resources can be deployed to prevent the spread of disease making a real impact in communities and people’s lives.”
CLIMADE’s initial work will start with disease surveillance in Africa and expand to countries around the world that are often impacted by infectious disease outbreaks.
The CLIMADE consortium will be focused on improving surveillance tools and expanding access to resources to decrease the impact of climate amplified diseases and epidemics. The global group of scientists is led by Tulio de Oliveira, Ph.D., a professor at Stellenbosch University and Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) in South Africa as well as Luiz Carlos Alcantara, Ph.D., a professor at the Fundação Osvaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) in Brazil and Edward Holmes, Ph.D., an evolutionary biologist and virologist and professor at the University of Sydney.
CLIMADE members include public health agencies, like the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that bring decades of experience in genomics surveillance and epidemic response, as well as academic organizations such as the Broad Institute, University of Washington and University of Oxford.
Abbott and its partners in the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition will provide viral sequencing and testing data as part of the technology being developed and can provide diagnostic testing for potential outbreaks.
“We are bringing together the best minds in the medical, scientific and public health communities to help the world create a robust surveillance system that quickly identifies pathogens and tracks their evolution and spread. This collaboration across the private and public sectors is critical to pandemic preparedness and to our ability to go from responding to outbreaks to predicting them before they occur”,Oliveira added.
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