Preventing future pandemics is an international priority. Using Hendra virus in bats as a model, Griffith researchers have shown how we can not only predict future virus spillovers from wildlife, but also prevent them by preserving and restoring natural habitats.
Wildlife disease ecologist and veterinarian Dr Alison Peel, based at the Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, is a world-recognised expert in the dynamics and drivers of infectious disease in wildlife, particularly bats.
“As a veterinarian, it was the interesting viruses that drew me to bats, but that grew into respect for the bats themselves, and fascination with the complex interactions between environmental and climatic changes, bat ecology and disease,” Dr Peel said.
Dr Peel and her team primarily focus on Hendra virus as a model for viral spillover from bats. Hendra virus naturally circulates in Australian flying foxes, but when transmitted from bats to horses then onto humans, it has a high fatality rate.
The team are an integral component of Bat One Health, an international group working across seven countries to understand how human environmental impacts affect bat and human health, and how that understanding can be applied to other systems globally to prevent future pandemics.
Dr Peel and collaborators from Bat One Health integrated 25 years of data on land-use change and bat behaviour and identified the climatic and ecological drivers underlying spillover of Hendra virus to horses in subtropical Australia.
The team found that when bats experience habitat loss and food shortages during winter, their populations both splintered and moved closer to agricultural and urban areas. They also found that consuming less nutritious food options than those found in their native habitat led to bats shedding more virus.
This research allowed the team to develop a model to accurately predict Hendra virus spillover clusters up to two years in advance. The modelling was used by Dr Peel and the team in 2017 and 2020 to predict imminent increased risks of Hendra virus spillover.
Real-time advice was circulated through media outlets and veterinary boards and officers to raise awareness across the population, especially among horse owners and 7000+ registered veterinarians.
The Queensland Government has utilised Dr Peel's research findings to enhance our epidemiological knowledge and in turn provide awareness and education to Queensland community members such as horse owners and veterinarians to reduce the risk of infection in animals and in turn, also people. Dr Peel provides regular updates on her research progress and findings to ensure we have the latest information. She is outstanding in her research discipline and highly valued among biosecurity agencies, including Biosecurity Queensland.
Dr Fiona Thompson, Director, Emergency Animal Disease Preparedness, Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Importantly, the team’s research also showed how sustainable ecological interventions could help prevent virus spillovers happening in the first place. Dr Peel strives to liaise with government and professional bodies on viral spillover prediction and prevention affecting biosecurity, public health, and livestock health.
Dr Peel is an invited member of the Wildlife Health Australia Bat Health Focus and Human Animal Spillover and Emerging Diseases Scanning working groups, the latter of which reports directly to the Australian Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Veterinary Officer, and the Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer on emerging infectious disease threats.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Peel was an invited member on two expert panels to rapidly assess and provide global guidelines on the risk of reverse-spillover of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to wild bat populations in Australia and the USA.
“My vision is to see bat and human needs under a One Health paradigm that is more deeply embedded into everyday activities of governments, researchers, and businesses,” Dr Peel said. “I will continue to advocate for ecological interventions internationally and nationally, via my involvement in government and non-government One Health stakeholder groups. In this way, together we can increase awareness and uptake of risk mitigation measures that both predict and prevent viral emergence.”
Dr Peel and her team are open to collaborations with academic, government, community and government organisations and groups.
Dr Peel actively advocates for bat and human health through a One Health model and is open to providing expert advice in this area including invitations to participate on advisory panels.
To learn more about Dr Peel's research and her contact details please go to:
Banner photo by Patrick Jones – Pat Jones Photography
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