New Center Tackles Climate Change and Infectious Disease Threats

Photo Credit: Supplied by UP

As our planet warms, the spread of mosquito- and tick-borne diseases is accelerating, and zoonotic viruses are increasingly spilling over from animals to humans. The University of Pretoria (UP) and Cornell University have joined forces to establish C-CHANGE to address the growing threat of these infectious diseases.

Pretoria, South Africa (10 December 2024) – In a groundbreaking move, the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine have collaborated to establish the Centre for Transformative Infectious Disease Research on Climate, Health, and Equity in a Changing Environment (C-CHANGE).

We hear about the growing issue of climate change often and with this environmental concern, comes the accelerating spread of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks, as well as increasing the risk of zoonotic viruses spilling over from animals to humans.

According to UP, C-CHANGE aims to address these challenges, offering new solutions to the ways climate change is directly impacting global human health. The centre’s research will involve collaboration between faculty and students from both UP and Cornell.

This collaboration will enable scientists to predict and prevent disease outbreaks, fostering sustainable health solutions for both South Africa and the world.

Dr Alexander Travis, Director of Cornell Public Health, emphasises the importance of proactive measures:

“To have the greatest health impacts, we must pivot from reactively responding to outbreaks to proactively understanding the social and environmental conditions that increase the risk of outbreaks.

“If we can understand the conditions that allow diseases to emerge or spread, then we can predict when they will happen and work to prevent them, which is our ultimate goal.”

Travis added that preventing the outbreak of disease before it occurs is the best way to protect the public’s health.

The centre’s faculty and trainees will partner with rural communities – primarily in South Africa and New York State – who are most vulnerable to these changes, to collect and integrate diverse data on climate, land use, human and animal health, disease vectors and the pathogens themselves.

These teams will create predictive epidemiological models that can both help communities prepare and form the basis of practical, preventative interventions. This approach solves a long-standing challenge in the field.

The first major research project will focus on viral pathogen spillover and will be led by UP’s Dr Wanda Markotter, Professor and Director of the Centre for Viral Zoonoses in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and Cornell’s Dr Raina Plowright, the Rudolf J and Katharine L Steffen Professor of Veterinary Medicine.

They will investigate how climate extremes and land use changes result in wildlife stress, increasing both viral shedding and interaction with humans, facilitating viral spillover events.

The researchers will also explore animal and human health, and ecological and genomic data on tick- and mosquito-borne diseases in the context of climate change.

This knowledge will be used to create community-based early warning systems for when to expect increased risk that these vectors will be active and carry and transmit the pathogens.

Communities and healthcare systems can then try to prevent and prepare for the diseases they carry.

“Whether in Africa or North America, rural communities often bear the greatest infectious disease burdens from climate change. The research C-CHANGE performs will help us understand how climate change is increasingly putting people at risk, so we can try to prevent it,” explains Dr Marinda Oosthuizen, Professor and Deputy Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies at UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Science.

Through this powerful alliance, UP and Cornell are leading the charge in addressing the complex interplay of climate change, public health, and infectious diseases. By combining scientific expertise, community collaboration, and innovative research, C-CHANGE is poised to make a significant impact on global health and well-being.