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Contributed Talk

Session: : Disease And Epidemiology 7

COS 302-1 - A national-scale distributed surveillance design for SARS-CoV-2 in a potential wildlife reservoir host

Thursday, August 10, 2023
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM PDT
Location: D138
Abstract: Emergence of zoonotic diseases in new wildlife host species continues to occur globally and poses major health or conservation risks for the hosts involved. Once established in wildlife hosts, disease mitigation can be especially challenging. Understanding the epidemiological and ecological conditions that lead to emergence and persistence is critical for resource allocation decisions that will protect the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems. Current knowledge of disease emergence in wildlife reservoirs remains weak because of the challenges with collecting enough appropriate data for a system-level understanding of the drivers of emergence and the relative infrequency that these events occur. Thus guidelines for optimal surveillance of emerging disease in wildlife remain absent. Here, we describe the design, operationalization, and preliminary findings from a novel distributed surveillance project of SARS-CoV-2 in deer supported through USDA-APHIS and the American Rescue Plan Act that aims to understand establishment and reservoir dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in deer. The project is longitudinally studying SARS-CoV-2 infections, host movements, and subsequent transmission dynamics from two species of deer across two years at 12 sites in seven states, with research conducted by seven collaborating agencies and institutions. Crucial decision points in study design included establishment of site-specific sample sizes and temporal resolutions for movement and capture schedules, prioritization of demographic groups for sampling, and adaptability with regard to local capture methodologies. In this presentation, we will describe the study design process and operationalization on the ground, with emphasis on strengths, challenges, and key lessons for best management practices in the surveillance design for understanding disease emergence processes in new animal host species. We will also describe the importance of continued interplay between surveillance design and a model-based understanding of the system for optimizing risk assessment.