For the past year and a half, our world has been absorbed by the emergence and rapid spread of COVID-19. Every country has been affected, and over four million people have died. How can we control future outbreaks from emerging and causing chaos in the world?
More than 70 per cent of infectious diseases affecting humans originate from animals. Having possibly jumped from animals to humans, COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, and the IAEA has offered 128 countries and territories support to detect the presence of its virus. The fastest and most accurate detection method for the virus, real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR), is a nuclear-derived technique, and the IAEA, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has helped countries to use it.
Building on decades of experience in supporting the detection, identification and management of zoonoses, such as avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, in June 2020 the IAEA launched the Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action project, or ZODIAC, to help countries prepare for future pandemics. ZODIAC is a global initiative that supports laboratories in identifying zoonotic pathogens before they infect people. The project aims to help build and increase the capacity of veterinary and public health officials to respond to outbreaks in time.
“With COVID-19, the world was caught vastly unprepared,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “Through ZODIAC, we aim to establish a network of labs around the world that can support national authorities with reliable data, thus allowing them to act faster and more decisively.” ZODIAC will help equip laboratories and train experts in countries where zoonotic diseases may emerge. By supporting countries’ efforts to detect potential virus pathogens, with training in the latest nuclear and related techniques, laboratories can identify potential animal viruses, with a view to act before they cause human diseases.
“Today the world faces the consequences of two major crises — the pandemic and climate change — whose effects wreak havoc on the economy and the health of populations,” said Juan Francisco Facetti, Paraguay’s Ambassador to Austria and Resident Representative to the IAEA. “The ZODIAC project not only foresees continuing with the strategy of enhancing the analytical capacities of our health systems to face COVID-19, but will also allow us to take a giant leap forward in strengthening the understanding of zoonotic diseases and their sequelae.”
