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Vision
“A network with capacity to identify and respond in a timely manner to epidemic threats in the region”
There is a real need for studies on the epidemiology and etiologies of acute respiratory infections in adults and children from developed and developing countries. Access to cohorts of patients and to biological specimens may facilitate the development of research programs, specifically addressing the pathogenesis and the immunology of selected acute respiratory infections. The Asia-Pacific zone is certainly a region of choice for implementing such a program, for the following reasons:
- This geographical zone is a historical and still active focus of emergence of influenza epidemics. The WHO-recommended composition of the influenza vaccine in 2004 included a strain isolated in New Caledonia and two strains isolated in China (Shanghai and Fujian);
- South East Asia and China are the most susceptible zones of emergence of a human-chicken H5N1 reassortant, since avian flu foci are more and more frequent there since 1999;
- The SARS epidemic emerged and developed in 2002 in that region;
- The eight centers of the Pasteur network in the Asia-Pacific region are very different, both by their legal status and their activities, thereby opening new ways of collaboration. Some are essentially devoted to fundamental research and development of cutting-edge technologies (Hong Kong University-Pasteur Research Centre, IP-Korea, IP- Shanghai), whereas other are more involved in public health interventions and epidemiology, in the surveillance of infectious diseases and clinical research (IP-Cambodia, IP-Ho Chi Minh City, IP-New Caledonia, IP-Nha Trang, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology). Moreover, 5 institutes in this region (IP-Cambodia, New Caledonia, and the three centers in Vietnam) perform medical microbiology analyses, thus having ties with large hospitals and direct access to patients, to biological specimens and related epidemiological data.
This project will cover medical issues, including surveillance and research in public health (Work Package 1), development and standardization of new diagnostic tools (WP2), fundamental molecular research as well as innovative therapy development (WP3), and a continuing educational program (WP4).
The RESPARI initiative should strengthen both research and intervention groups in the different institutes from the Asia-Pacific region, in particular clinical microbiologists, epidemiologists and molecular biologists working together on a common project. All theses interactions will allow a more efficient sharing of means and tools, and a more rapid valorization of the knowledge output. |
Presentation
