Understanding the Introduction of Pathogens into Humans- Preventing Patient Zero

The past few decades have seen the emergence of several diseases with drastic public health and economic consequences. Understanding routes of pathogen emergence and transmission is critical to preventing and mitigating disease spillover and amplification. The National Academies Forum on Microbial Threats will host a hybrid public workshop to address gaps in understanding of disease emergence, with a focus on the human-animal interface and laboratory biosafety. The workshop will explore how applications of existing policy structures, emerging technologies, and actionable research can improve biosecurity measures and prevention of future disease emergence.

A planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will organize a public workshop to examine current knowledge in understanding emergence of diseases with pandemic potential at the animal-human interface, highlight evidence gaps, and discuss actionable research to address these gaps and improve prevention of and rapid response to disease spillover events. 

The first part of the workshop will explore gaps in the understanding and prevention of disease emergence at the animal-human interface, including but not limited to wildlife-to-human spillover. The second part of the workshop will discuss how to address these gaps while safeguarding biosafety and biosecurity in the laboratory and in the field. Speakers may address the following:

Historical context, existing evidence, and ongoing research on drivers of zoonotic disease spillover, including but not limited to routes such as animal trade, hunting, and the production of animals for food and other animal-derived goods;
Known and potential mechanisms for natural spillover of zoonotic pathogens from animals to people in these different settings and implications for future research priorities;
Scientific unknowns in understanding of animal-human transmission routes, including limitations of public health decision-making and rapid response efforts due to these knowledge gaps;

Known and potential risks for unintended zoonotic pathogen infection in conducting field or laboratory research to advance understanding of disease spillover, including gaps and uncertainties in understanding adherence to existing biosafety standards, data reporting for deviations, and adapting policies and practices to emerging or high-consequence pathogens;
Potential solutions to address knowledge gaps in understanding animal-human transmission routes for diseases with pandemic potential while minimizing unintentional biosafety and biosecurity risks;

Engagement of stakeholders or resources that have not been well-represented in outbreak preparedness efforts thus far but may hold important missing knowledge in disease emergence and transmission chain from animals to humans;
Barriers and enablers in aligning public health needs, policy decisions, and research goals in resource allocations, balancing competing priorities, and engaging necessary stakeholders to address these knowledge gaps.

The planning committee will develop the agenda, select speakers and discussants, and moderate or identify moderators for the discussions. A proceedings publication that summarizes the presentations and discussions held during this workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.