Previous

1 / 3

Next

The American and Asian Centers for Arboviral Research and Enhanced Surveillance (A2CARES) assembles a consortium of world-renowned investigators in arbovirology, epidemiology, immunology, viral diagnostics, phylogenetics, and clinical research, while leveraging research infrastructure and expertise in the performance of long-term cohort and hospital-based studies. This consortium has resulted from decades of collaborative international research and extensive experience in preparing for and responding to outbreaks in close collaboration with local and international health authorities and NIAID. With sites at key locations in Asia (Sri Lanka) and the Americas (Nicaragua, Ecuador, US), this consortium will utilize innovative molecular and serological methods not only to monitor and identify emerging pathogens but also to address fundamental questions in the epidemiology of dengue and other arboviral diseases and to identify viral, host and environmental determinants of differences between sites along a gradient of urbanicity.

The overarching goals of A2CARES are to develop an interconnected, harmonized network of clinical and laboratory sites to strengthen research programs, compare disease epidemiology and severity in different geographic regions, develop and implement cutting-edge diagnostic methods, and respond efficiently and effectively to outbreaks. A2CARES will advance toward this overall goal by establishing standardized hospital studies and community-based cohorts at its research sites to characterize and compare human arboviral illnesses across sites and developing the infrastructure to rapidly respond to epidemics in collaboration with the Ministries of Health. To capture potential emerging pathogens, A2CARESs further includes outbreak investigation, surveillance of non-human primates, and vector incrimination.

• This Research Center is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 1U01AI151788