Emerging animal diseases: examples of INRA-CIRAD research on diseases without frontiers

22.12.2006

Their spread raises many questions for researchers: what are the environmental and climatic conditions that favour the diseases?

What are the population dynamics of both the pathogens and the vectors that carry them? How do epidemics arise? What is the biology of the pathogens involved and what defence mechanisms do affected animals have? How are surveillance and early warning methods developed? How can the socioeconomic impact of epidemics on animals and possibly on humans be studied?

On Monday 4 December 2006, researchers from CIRAD and INRA presented to the press several examples of their work, showing how research sets out to answer the above questions:

1- Bioscope, an observatory of the living organisms of the Mediterranean: a real-time information system that gives epidemiological forecasts and helps prevent and control the diseases being monitored: flu, bluetongue, Trichinella, etc.

Scientific contact:
Christian Ducrot,
Animal Epidemiology RU,
INRA Clermont,
tel.: +33 (0)4 73 62 42 63

2- Bird flu, from knowing the virus to understanding the disease

Scientific contacts:
Renaud Lancelot,
CIRAD Montpellier,
tel.: +33 (0)4 67 59 37 17

Abdenour Benmansour,
Molecular Virology and Immunology RU,
INRA Jouy-en-Josas,
tel.: +33 (0)1 34 65 25 90

3- Bluetongue, a disease from the South
Several virus strains for a single disease, which is usually subtropical but is now affecting northern Europe.

Scientific contact:
Renaud Lancelot,
CIRAD Montpellier,
tel.: +33 (0)4 67 59 37 17

4- Tick-borne diseases:

- example of ticks in the tropics

Frédéric Stachurski,
MEDVETROP RU,
CIRAD Montpellier,
tel.: +33 (0)4 67 61 58 00 ext. 42 35.

- example of ticks in temperate countries

> Pascal Boireau, AFSSA,
INRA-AFSSA-ENVA-Univ.
Paris XII JRU for Parasite and Fungus Immunology and Molecular Biology,
INRA Jouy, tel.:
+33 (0)1 49 77 28 11