In the Spotlight: WildTech Project

WildTech: Novel Technologies for Surveillance of Emerging and Re-emerging Infections of Wildlife

WildTech addresses the problem of the increasing prevalence of new and emerging diseases arising from wildlife which has clear implications for disease spread not only among wildlife populations, but also to domestic animals and humans both across Europe and globally.

Currently it cannot be predicted when and where a new pathogen will emerge, which will be able to pass from animals to humans, or when a pathogenic microorganism of animals is going to break the species barrier and infect humans, too.

To avoid the risk of a new epidemic that might occur due to animal disease requires international surveillance and cooperation. Until now, there was no co-ordinated effort to monitor the spread of infection within and between different countries in the EU.

The WildTech project has been established specifically to set up a technology platform that may be exploited in Europe and elsewhere as a basis for high throughput disease diagnosis in wildlife.

Sources: WildTech and BIOMED

This project is supported by the European Commission under the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology Theme of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.

Do You Know of a Wildlife Health Related Organization?

Over the years the Digest has periodically highlighted wildlife health related organizations that we felt would be of interest to readers through the weekly feature, "In the Spotlight". You can browse through a collection of past articles here.

If you know of an organization that you think readers from the wildlife health community would be interested in learning about, just send us a link to the organization at digest@wdin.org. If it fits within the scope of the Digest, we will share it with your colleagues in an upcoming issue.