Preparing the world for infectious disease outbreaks: new ?6m Centre announced

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Preparing the world for infectious disease outbreaks: new ?6m Centre announced
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsande...ewssummary/news_5-3-2007-11-45-29?newsid=6713

New MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial will analyse new outbreaks of existing diseases and those infections which may pose a serious threat in the future
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Ensuring that the world is prepared for outbreaks of infectious disease is the aim of a new Centre announced today.

The MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, at Imperial College London, will analyse new outbreaks of existing diseases, such as polio, and those infections which may pose a serious threat in the future, such as H5N1 avian flu. It will work closely with governments and health organisations across the world to help them plan and devise policies for potential future pandemics.

In the event of an outbreak of infectious disease, the Centre will rapidly provide countries with information about how the epidemic is evolving, how quickly it is likely to spread, how infectious and lethal it is, and how its spread might be brought under control. The Centre will use information gathered from governments, public health organisations and research contacts across the world to monitor and analyse infectious disease outbreaks in real time.

The GBP 6m Centre is funded jointly by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and Imperial College.

Professor Neil Ferguson

, from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College and Director of the Centre, said: "This new Centre is the first of its kind in the world. We will be translating epidemiological modelling expertise into something that makes a concrete difference to the way countries plan for and deal with new infectious disease outbreaks.

"As human populations grow and people become ever more mobile, the speed with which new epidemics will spread in the future will be unprecedented. It is vital that we make best use of the limited data available at the start of an outbreak as rapidly as possible to stand a chance of controlling spread. The research of this Centre will significantly contribute to that effort," he added.

The Centre will be based in a specially refurbished part of the College's St Mary's campus. Most of the funding (GBP 4.6m) will go towards post-doctoral research positions, doctoral studentships and new permanent posts.

The Centre will be staffed by researchers with substantial experience of modelling disease epidemics including HIV, BSE and vCJD, the 2001 UK foot and mouth disease epidemic, SARS, and most recently the H5N1 avian influenza epidemic.

The core staff at the Centre will be working closely with the World Health Organisation, UK Health Protection Agency and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and they will spend a large proportion of their time working at these partner sites.

In addition to analysing the spread of diseases and how they might be controlled, the centre will also be looking at the ecological, biological and social factors that can encourage pathogens to emerge.
Further information about the Centre can be found on its website, at www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/outbreaks