̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Olivier Restif

Tackling COVID-19: Dr Olivier Restif

jg533 — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 07:13:53 +0000

This article is part of a series in which we speak to some of the many Cambridge researchers tackling COVID-19. For other articles about our latest COVID-19-related research, click here.

My research is focused on viruses in bats that can be transmitted to people or domestic animals. We call these zoonotic viruses. ̽��ֱ��work is important in helping to understand where and how pandemics may emerge, and can help reduce people’s exposure to diseases. However, once a pandemic is underway it becomes a public health issue and other colleagues are better placed than me to respond. Like many scientists, I’ve offered to help assess new evidence relating to the coronavirus, for example by responding to requests from the teams of modellers who advise the UK Government.

I’m quite lucky that my work is mainly office-based, so working from home hasn’t caused too much disruption apart from having to cancel a few trips and conferences. Obviously, staying in touch with everyone in my team requires a bit more organisation, but they’re all doing well. On the plus side I get to spend more time with my three year-old son.

I’m part of a large international consortium, called Bat One Health, studying zoonotic viruses in bats in Africa, Asia and Australia. Using years of field data, we develop models to investigate how bat ecology affects the spread of viruses. We have come to realise that human activities, by disrupting wildlife, increase the risk of diseases spreading to humans in multiple ways. Working with academics and communities in affected countries, our goal is to come up with practical and sustainable solutions to preserve biodiversity while reducing threats to human health.

̽��ֱ��UK and other high-income countries are experiencing unprecedented challenges in responding to the outbreak. But I think the biggest crisis is just beginning to hit many African and Asian countries. Many have recorded very low numbers of cases so far and some have imposed drastic social distancing measures. However, the virus has likely been spreading through those countries for weeks due to the lack of detection capacity. If severe cases increase exponentially in poor communities that lack access to health care, we could soon be witnessing a new humanitarian crisis.

̽��ֱ��reaction of the ̽��ֱ��’s research community has been quite extraordinary. Online forums have been set up to exchange information and coordinate action, to ensure that the necessary resources and expertise can be found and employed very quickly. Even though it’s often claimed that researchers work in silos, that’s not my experience at all: interdisciplinary research is thriving.

̽��ֱ��irony is that we have been expecting a pandemic like this for nearly twenty years. We learned a lot from recent international outbreaks of SARS, Ebola and swine flu in particular, and contingency plans had been drafted by some of the best experts. ̽��ֱ��research was shared with governments and also with the general public, for example in David Quammen’s excellent book Spillover (2012) and in the Hollywood film Contagion (2011). So why didn’t this knowledge translate into better preparedness? This is yet another example of short-term political priorities getting in the way of planning for extreme events.

From an academic perspective, better collaborations between natural scientists and economists would certainly help. ̽��ֱ��coronavirus outbreak definitely highlights the importance of research on zoonotic viruses in wildlife ‘upstream’ of pandemics. In addition to continuing our work on viruses in bats, we’ll be looking for new opportunities to collaborate with public health scientists and policy makers. More than ever, our emphasis will be on capacity-building in Africa.

When the pandemic is over, I’m most looking forward to meeting up with relatives and friends. I’m also conscious that the current restrictions are causing major disruptions for our students, who will need additional support to catch up. Hopefully the experience will inspire more students to work on pandemics and appreciate the importance of interdisciplinary research.

Dr Olivier Restif is Alborada Lecturer in Epidemiology, based in the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Veterinary Medicine. Read his recent opinion piece for ̽��ֱ��Conversation.

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“We have been expecting a pandemic like this for nearly twenty years,” says Olivier Restif, who uses mathematical modelling to understand how infectious diseases spread within and across species. In the midst of a global pandemic that began when one person was infected by one wild animal, he is keen to draw attention to the importance of using research to be better prepared.

Dr Restif (left) with collaborators from the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana in Accra, July 2019

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Understanding the bushmeat market: why do people risk infection from bat meat?

cjb250 — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 10:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat, Eidolon helvum, is widely hunted and eaten in Ghana, but carries a risk of infection with ‘zoonotic’ pathogens – diseases transmitted from animal to man. Hunting, butchering and consuming wild animals for food can potentially transmit these infections through bites, scratches, bodily fluids, tissue and excrement. Bats in particular appear to host more zoonotic viruses per species than any other group of mammals, yet very little is known about how humans and bats interact, how people perceive bats and their accompanying disease risk, or who is most at risk.

Dr Olivier Restif from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge explains: “Knowing who eats bush meat and why, as well as how they perceive the risks, is important for informing both disease and conservation management plans. This requires a close-knit collaboration between epidemiologists, ecologists and social anthropologists. That is why we have teamed up with the Zoological Society of London and the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana to develop this research programme.”

Dr Alexandra Kamins, a Gates Cambridge scholar alumna working with Dr Restif, adds: “All too often, local community voices go unheard, despite representing those most at risk of spillover and often shouldering negative impacts arising from intervention measures. That is why it was important for us to listen to them.”

Dr Kamins and colleagues interviewed 577 people across southern Ghana, including hunters, vendors and consumers of bat meat. Of these, the majority (551) were interviewed using a general survey whilst the rest were interviewed in-depth through focus groups.

̽��ֱ��researchers found that hunters used a variety of means to capture bats, including shooting, netting and scavenging, and that all of the hunters reported handling live bats, coming into contact with bat blood and getting scratched or bitten. None of the hunters reported using protective measures, such as gloves. Scavenged bats were collected alive, usually when a branch broke and bats fell to the ground, but this too carried risks: four interviewees explained how people would fight over the bats when a large branch fell, sometimes even lying down on top of bats to prevent others from taking them, often sustaining bites and scratches.

̽��ֱ��bats were prepared and cooked in a number of ways, the most common methods being to smoke the bats before preparing food and using the bats in soup. At odds with reports from other countries, the survey in South East Ghana revealed few uses of bat bushmeat associated with traditional beliefs or medical practices. In Ghana, bat bushmeat seems to function as both subsistence and luxury food. ̽��ֱ��large number of hunters who hunt for themselves or who keep some of their catch suggests that bats provide a readily available source of animal protein. At the same time, high taste ratings among consumers and relatively high prices suggest that bat meat is seen as a ‘luxury food’ in Ghana.

Hunters, vendors and consumers of bat meat all tended to be older than those people with no connection to the practice - on average seven to ten years older. ̽��ֱ��researchers believe this could imply a number of scenarios, the most likely being a decrease in youth interest in bat bushmeat.

They found a strong association between gender and roles in the bat-bushmeat commodity chain, with hunters primarily being male and vendors female, consistent with the cultural norms of rural Ghanaian society. This could mean that disease risk was also different between the sexes. ̽��ֱ��researchers also found that those people living in urban environments and those who were more educated were less likely to participate in bat bushmeat activities. Although this suggests that increased urbanisation and improvements in education could reduce the use of bats as bushmeat, it is possible that increased household income could lead to increased bushmeat consumption, particularly as the meat appears to be seen as a luxury item.

Using focus groups, the researchers carried out more in-depth interviews to understand participants’ likely reactions to interventions regarding bat bushmeat. They found that regulations by themselves are not effective solutions: laws and fines alone are unlikely to induce change. While only some of our respondents would be willing to risk paying fines if they continued to earn enough from selling bat bushmeat, essentially no one knew of the existing hunting laws in Ghana, suggesting that enforcement is a major issue.

Possible health risks appeared to be more of a deterrent than fines; some respondents suggested that disease risk could motivate them to stop. However, the risk of disease from bat bushmeat was considered to be greatest by those who did not consume the meat and lowest by those who hunted or sold the bats. This finding supports previous research suggesting that people can readily perceive risk and even intellectually acknowledge desire to reduce that risk, but actual behaviour might not change.

Professor James Wood, who leads the research programme at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, says: “Understanding both actual and perceived risk factors is vital. If a bat-borne zoonotic disease outbreak were to occur in Ghana, our information could prove invaluable in helping target those groups at greatest risk and in planning disease control measures.”

Dr Marcus Rowcliffe from ZSL adds: “Unfortunately, there may not be a simple way to minimise the risks of zoonotic spillover from bats. For example, bat hunting is a highly seasonal occupation and, like all bushmeat hunting, can be started and dropped at will, whereas rearing domestic animals – one possible sustainable solution for reducing bushmeat hunting – requires continuous activity throughout the year on a daily basis.

“Although many programmes suggest economic opportunity as the major motivation behind livelihood choices and success of alternatives, it may not be enough on its own. We found people in Ghana to be responsive to education pieces about the disease risk from bushmeat but also the ecological role of bats in pollination and seed dispersal. Working with local communities to help them find effective and sustainable solutions in line with their economic needs must be a long-term commitment.”

Reference
Kamins, AO et al. Characteristics and Risk Perceptions of Ghanaians Potentially Exposed to Bat-Borne Zoonoses through Bushmeat. Ecohealth; 30 Sept 2014

Ebola, as with many emerging infections, is likely to have arisen due to man’s interaction with wild animals – most likely the practice of hunting and eating wild meat known as ‘bushmeat’. A team of researchers led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has surveyed almost six hundred people across southern Ghana to find out what drives consumption of bat bushmeat – and how people perceive the risks associated with the practice.

Knowing who eats bush meat and why, as well as how they perceive the risks, is important for informing both disease and conservation management plans

Olivier Restif

Arran ET

Straw coloured fruit bat (edit)

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