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Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 20:34:16 -0500 From: Jan Lundström <Jan.Lundstrom@zoologi.uu.se> Subject: Information about facilities for experimental infections in animals, creation of a facility for experimental studies of zoonotic pathogens in their natural bird and mammal host species - request for information Jan O Lundström Zoonotic infections are recognised as major human and animal health problems worldwide. However, studies on the epidemiology, ecology and evolution of these parasitic organisms are often limited by the lack of facilities for experimental studies of natural host-pathogen interactions. In part, the lack of such research facilities could be explained by the costs for creating and maintaining high standard animal housing and associated laboratories for experimental work with BSL-2 and BSL-3 pathogens. We claim that some very important basic as well as applied studies require experiments with certain pathogens in their natural hosts, and that such research is crucial to our understanding of the evolution, spread, and maintenance of zoonotic infections affecting human health in nature. We are a group of 16 researchers from Umeå University, Uppsala University, Kalmar University, Lund University, the Karolinska Institute, and Kalmar County Hospital [who] have decided to take a joint action for creating an independent research facility for experimental studies on zoonotic pathogens in wild and domesticated birds and mammals. Although we are working in many different disciplines including virology, bacteriology, parasitology, medicine, veterinary medicine, epidemiology, behaviour ecology, population biology, medical entomology and evolutionary biology, there is a common need for an animal research facility for experimental studies using BSL 2 and BSL 3 pathogens in their natural bird and mammal host species. At our first major meeting in October 2000, we decided that such a Research Centre for Zoonotic Ecology and Epidemiology (RCZEE) facility should be located on the Island Öland on the Swedish east coast, that it should be created for experimental work with viruses, bacteria and protozoa of BSL 2 and 3 in wild and domesticated birds and mammals, that the containment animal house(s) should be designed for work with mammals in the size from mouse to cattle and for birds in the size from warblers to geese, that there should be breeding facilities for some of the animal species, and that there should be appropriate laboratory facilities for basic virological, bacteriological and parasitological work. We also decided that the RCZEE should be open not only to Swedish scientist but also to scientists from other European countries. We feel that this is a unique initiative in a European perspective as well as in a larger international perspective. Such a research facility could open the door for a multidisciplinary approach in the study of epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of an important group of human and animal pathogens. It would be extremely helpful if you could provide information on other facilities, worldwide, that are suited for experimental studies of BSL 2 and 3 pathogens in their natural vertebrate host species. Also, we would like to get in touch with individual researchers as well as research groups that have use for such a research facility. ---- and Research Centre for Zoonotic Ecology
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