Two European programs reinforce the fight against emerging diseases

PREDEMICS-ANTIGONE consortia_11 2013 (2)The 31 partners involved in the two major European research programs PREDEMICS and ANTIGONE are to meet for a joint seminar at the Institut Pasteur on November 6th. These two programs will respectively receive €11.7 million and €12 million funding of the European Union over five years to study the emergence mechanisms of infectious diseases in order to strengthen existing treatment and prevention. Since their launch, PREDEMICS and ANTIGONE have been active in various areas, in particular for modeling the spread and evolution of emerging pathogens and for studying host-pathogen interactions.

Read the entire pressrelease

Airborne transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 virus

Aside

22 June 2012.

EMPERIE and ANTIGONE research groups publish results on airborne transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 virus. After several months of delay, the research groups of Erasmus MC, led by Ron Fouchier, and Cambridge University, led by Derek Smith, today published their research on the transmissibility of avian H5N1 influenza virus in the special issue on H5N1 virus in the leading scientific journal Science.  The publication by Herfst et al. shows that only a small number of mutations are necessary to change the H5N1 virus so that it can spread between mammals via respiratory droplets. The publication by Russell et al. shows that it might be possible for human-to-human airborne transmissible avian H5N1 influenza viruses to evolve in nature. The research presented in these publications was partially funded through EMPERIE and ANTIGONE.

See also:

Posted on by