Epi-Intelligence in Uganda

Photo credit: Christine K. Johnson

Studying emerging infectious diseases at the interface of humans, animals, and the environment takes collaboration, local experts, and perseverance.

Watching the mist roll over the tea fields and cross into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, it seems impossible to imagine that the looming vines and canopy standing in front of us is not an impermeable wall dividing humans from the animals and microbes of the forest. A team of One Health scientists studying zoonotic disease knows otherwise. A virus emerging from this forest or any forest in sub-Saharan Africa could happen at any moment and quickly travel to a major metropolis in a matter of days, if not hours.

The Bwindi Community Hospital, Uganda Virus Research Institute, and Gorilla Doctors partnered with the University of California, Davis to study this risk through our Research Center, the Epicenter for Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence, that is part of the CREID Network. In collaboration with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), we are using the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest as a model to better understand how viruses emerge from the forest and human interactions with animals facilitate transmission and spread.