NEW YORK - October 23, 2009 - Wildlife Trust, the conservation organization that empowers local conservation scientists worldwide to protect nature and safeguard ecosystems and human health, prepares for a key organizational role in the recently launched program from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at detecting and predicting diseases (zoonoses) that move between wildlife and people.

The global early warning system, named PREDICT, will be developed with incremental funding of up to $75 million over 5 years and is one of five new initiatives of USAID known in combination as the Emerging Pandemic Threats Program. Building on its long-standing programs in disease surveillance and response, USAID is developing these initiatives to help prepare the world for infectious diseases like H1N1 flu, avian flu, SARS and Ebola.

Wildlife Trust was named as one of five partners to implement USAID's PREDICT program along with UC Davis, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Smithsonian Institution and Global Viral Forecasting Inc. As lead organization, UC Davis formed the One Health consortium to facilitate global surveillance, research and solutions that will emerge from the efforts of the five partner organizations. "USAID's initiative targets exactly the kind of research and predictive modeling Wildlife Trust conducts throughout the world on emerging infectious diseases," said Dr. Peter Daszak, president of Wildlife Trust.

The One Health consortium proposed a "Wildlife SMART Surveillance" program to research wildlife diseases in emerging disease 'hotspot' countries. "Our work with USAID will be based on Wildlife Trust's ground-breaking research in 2008 that produced the first ever global map of disease hotspots. This initiative will allow our groups to target surveillance in the places where the next HIV/AIDS, SARS or influenza pandemic could emerge," stated Dr. Daszak.
"To establish and maintain global pathogen surveillance, we will work directly with local governments and conservation organizations to build or expand programs in wildlife and human health. Together we want to stop the next HIV," stated Jonna Mazet, the UC Davis scientist leading PREDICT, and the director of UC Davis' new One Health Institute in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Wildlife Trust's international wildlife research will expand in South American hotspot countries under pressure from deforestation and agricultural expansion, as well in South and Southeast Asia where population growth and wildlife hunting are driving the risk of emergence. "We're going to work closely with our Wildlife Trust Alliance partners by expanding our outreach into new regions and merging conservation and health more effectively around the world," added Dr. Daszak.

This work will have implications for conservation, health and global economies. Models suggest that in a global pandemic, a quarter of the world's population could be infected and between 51 million and 81 million people could die, with the toll in the United States exceeding 400,000 casualties. World economic losses are estimated to exceed $4 trillion. "We have the capacity to predict these events, and now we hope to identify them before they cause these devastating impacts" added Dr. Daszak.

About Wildlife Trust
Wildlife Trust empowers local conservation scientists worldwide to protect nature and safeguard ecosystem and human health. Wildlife Trust is a conservation science innovator and leverages research expertise through strategic global alliances. Wildlife Trust pioneered the field of conservation medicine, a new discipline that addresses the link between ecological disruption of habitats and the effects on wildlife, livestock and human health. Wildlife Trust trains and supports a network of scientists around the world to save endangered species and their habitats and to protect the health of vital ecosystems. Wildlife Trust created the first egalitarian international network of science-based conservation organizations called the Wildlife Trust Alliance and is a founding partner organization of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine, a unique think-tank of prestigious academic institutions. More information: http://www.wildlifetrust.org. Media contact: Anthony Ramos, marketing and communication, (212) 380-4469 or (914) 787-9631, ramos@wildlifetrust.org.

Contact Info: Anthony M. Ramos Wildlife Trust
Telephone: 1.212.380.4469
Mobile: 1.914.787.9631
ramos@wildlifetrust.org

Website : Wildlife Trust