Global Virome Project Research Articles

Relevance of national, regional and global virome projects on pandemics prediction, prevention, and control: a social network analysis of GVP-citing articles.

The Global Virome Project (GVP) was proposed in 2018 as an evolution of the USAID PREDICT project and was presented as a "collaborative scientific initiative to discover zoonotic viral threats and stop future pandemics". The immediate response was mixed, with public health and scientific communities representatives showing skepticism, if not direct opposition. The economic, social, and health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated how unprepared the world was in the face of new pandemics. This paper analyses the impact of the GVP on the scientific and public health communities. Published scientific articles that cited the two 2018 seminal publications proposing the project were analysed using social network analysis methods. Encompassing the periods before and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the results indicate that (i) the concepts of the GVP have received more support than opposition in the scientific literature; (ii) its foundations should be updated to address the specific criticisms. Shifting focus to national virome projects can provide tangible, regional benefits that can positively contribute towards a consensus on achieving a high level of preparedness for the ever-present possibility of the following global viral pandemic.

A global pandemic treaty should aim for deep prevention

A global pandemic treaty should aim for deep prevention

Redefinir nuestra relación con la naturaleza para evitar futuras pandemias

Redefinir nuestra relación con la naturaleza para evitar futuras pandemias

What would it take to describe the global diversity of parasites?

How many parasites are there on Earth? Here, we use helminth parasites to highlight how little is known about parasite diversity, and how insufficient our current approach will be to describe the full scope of life on Earth. Using the largest database of host-parasite associations and one of the world's largest parasite collections, we estimate a global total of roughly 100 000-350 000 species of helminth endoparasites of vertebrates, of which 85-95% are unknown to science. The parasites of amphibians and reptiles remain the most poorly described, but the majority of undescribed species are probably parasites of birds and bony fish. Missing species are disproportionately likely to be smaller parasites of smaller hosts in undersampled countries. At current rates, it would take centuries to comprehensively sample, collect and name vertebrate helminths. While some have suggested that macroecology can work around existing data limitations, we argue that patterns described from a small, biased sample of diversity aren't necessarily reliable, especially as host-parasite networks are increasingly altered by global change. In the spirit of moonshots like the Human Genome Project and the Global Virome Project, we consider the idea of a Global Parasite Project: a global effort to transform parasitology and inventory parasite diversity at an unprecedented pace.

Intercepting pandemics through genomics

Ecological interactions that cross domains of life have major impacts on ecosystems and human health. Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic makes this point with destructive clarity, it is clear that zoonotic pathogens pose a standing threat to our species as demonstrated by Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Other species experience similar pandemics and are both sources of, and sensitive to, shared pathogens. More than a century ago, Cryphonectria parasitica ( Left ), the fungus that causes Chestnut blight, devastated the American Chestnut tree. Until its eradication in 2011, Rinderpest morbillivirus ( Right ) decimated cattle and other ungulate populations. A biosurveillance system would help prevent future deadly and economically devastating pathogen outbreaks. Image credit: Paul Beales/UK Crown Copyright ( Left ); © Bioimaging at The Pirbright Institute ( Right ). Hence, there is an urgent need to establish a global, genomic-based biosurveillance platform, a development which would be of immense value to biosecurity, biodefense, and the economy. If implemented, this “pandemic interception system” would hugely advance our understanding of the natural world. Three major research programs are poised to support this effort: BIOSCAN, the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), and the Global Virome Project (GVP). Each of these global programs is now working to develop approaches in comparative genomics that are needed to discover all species and to reveal their interactions. The diversity of infectious agents involved in host–pathogen interactions needs immediate clarification, especially with regard to those agents that transfect phylogenetically divergent lineages. Such information will enable a surveillance system that facilitates preemptive strikes and rapid responses to outbreaks as well as early development of diagnostic pipelines and vaccines. If pursued with a tiny fraction of the resources devoted toward the suppression of COVID-19, rapid progress could be made in identifying every pathogen hosted by birds and mammals … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: kressj{at}si.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Do we need a Global Virome Project?

There is debate in the scientific community about whether the animal-human infectious disease nexus warrants substantially more funding, science effort, and global policy discussion. One promising idea is to develop a global atlas of pathogens that are, as yet, unknown but might threaten humanity already or are likely to evolve into clear threats. Such an atlas would be a foundational necessity for anticipating and reducing the threats, but it would also be ambitious and costly, even if it was restricted initially to viruses, as in the proposed Global Virome Project.

The Global Virome Project: The power of Big Data – ending the threat from emerging viral diseases

The Global Virome Project: The power of Big Data – ending the threat from emerging viral diseases

Building a global atlas of zoonotic viruses.

At the Prince Mahidol Awards Conference on 30 January 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand, policy- and decision-makers, experts, researchers, donors and private sector representatives from across the globe came together to introduce and explore the dynamics of the Global Virome Project. The project is an innovative 10-year proposed partnership to develop a global atlas of most of the planet’s naturally occurring potentially zoonotic viruses. The project aims to transform the study of emerging diseases by building an unprecedented database of viruses in their ecological contexts. This foundation of information on viral sequences, geographic ranges and host distributions will be used to drive the development of prevention efforts against future threats. This international alliance will connect the next generation of scientists, build capacity at hotspots of viral emergence and promote equitable access to data and strategies to prevent epidemics.