From Protein to Pandemic: The Transdisciplinary Approach Needed to Prevent Spillover and the Next Pandemic

Abstract

Pandemics are a consequence of a series of processes that span scales from viral biology at 10−9 m to global transmission at 106 m. The pathogen passes from one host species to another through a sequence of events that starts with an infected reservoir host and entails interspecific contact, innate immune responses, receptor protein structure within the potential host, and the global spread of the novel pathogen through the naive host population. Each event presents a potential barrier to the onward passage of the virus and should be characterized with an integrated transdisciplinary approach. Epidemic control is based on the prevention of exposure, infection, and disease. However, the ultimate pandemic prevention is prevention of the spillover event itself. Here, we focus on the potential for preventing the spillover of henipaviruses, a group of viruses derived from bats that frequently cross species barriers, incur high human mortality, and are transmitted among humans via stuttering chains. We outline the transdisciplinary approach needed to prevent the spillover process and, therefore, future pandemics.

Ecology, evolution and spillover of coronaviruses from bats

“…Fundamental knowledge gaps remain about the different conditions that result in coronaviruses passing from bats into humans. Dynamic integration among field studies, modelling, laboratory experiments and human epidemiology is required to understand the processes and to prevent new coronavirus spillovers and pandemics 157 .…”

Ecological conditions experienced by bat reservoir hosts predict the intensity of Hendra virus excretion over space and time

“…The relatively high frequency of HeV spillovers compared to less-frequent spillover in many other systems provides a tractable system for linking pathogen pressure and cross-species transmission [73]. Our analyses show that pathogen pressure (i.e., annual AUC) positively predicts observed spillovers within the broad, regional scales of flying fox movements (i.e., up to 500 km).…”

Ecological conditions predict the intensity of Hendra virus excretion over space and time from bat reservoir hosts

“…The high frequency of HeV spillovers compared to many other spillover systems provides a tractable system for linking pathogen pressure and cross‐species transmission (Plowright & Hudson, 2021). Our analyses show that annual AUC predicts observed spillovers across broad, regional scales.…”