Title Participants "World Health Organization estimates of the global and regional disease burden of 22 foodborne bacterial, protozoal, and viral diseases, 2010 : a data synthesis" "Martyn D Kirk, Sara M Pires, Robert E Black, Marisa Caipo, John A Crump, Brecht Devleesschauwer, Dörte Döpfer, Aamir Fazil, Christa L Fischer-Walker, Tine Hald, Aron J Hall, Karen H Keddy, Robin J Lake, Claudio F Lanata, Paul R Torgerson, Arie H Havelaar, Frederick J Angulo" "Orthopox viral diseases" "P.G. Janssens" "Orthopox viral diseases" "PG Janssens" "Drug design strategies against newly emerging viral diseases" "Muhammad Usman Mirza" "The proposed project aims at the structure-based design of novel selective inhibitors for the treatment of specific vector-borne diseases mainly parasitic (schistosomiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease) and viral hemorrhagic fevers. It will be a challenging task to find those compounds that have maximal efficacy against the intruder, but minimal toxicity for the host as the differences between few parasitic target proteins (i.e. Kinases and HDAC active sites) and human are in general tiny (Thangapandian et al., 2012). However, since others have successfully designed selective anti-parasitic inhibitors (Andrews et al., 2000), it should also be possible to design targeted drugs. The current project will also focus on molecular targets (i.e., envelope glycoprotein and NSPs) that aim to encourage anti-viral drug discovery efforts. Also, as it should be possible to administer the novel drugs via the oral route, the fine-tuning of the pharmacokinetic properties of the lead compounds is an additional important issue to be taken into account in the inhibitor design. A multi-pronged structure-based drug design approach will be used to achieve the project's specific objectives This comprehensive multi-stage research will generate results that help in the discovery and design of novel lead structures for the development of selective and potent anti-parasitic and anti-viral drugs with most favorable pharmacokinetic properties. Potential active candidate compounds will be patented and further developed with a suitable pharmaceutical company. The results will be published in high-level peer-reviewed scientific journals so that the scientific communities working on the development of anti-parasitic agents and potential compounds can also utilize the new knowledge in their research. Finally, this project will help me reach my goals in getting a Ph.D. degree and taking the acquired know-how back to my home country." "A scoping review of viral diseases in African ungulates" "Hendrik Swanepoel, Jan Crafford, Melvyn Quan" "(1) Background: Viral diseases are important as they can cause significant clinical disease in both wild and domestic animals, as well as in humans. They also make up a large proportion of emerging infectious diseases. (2) Methods: A scoping review of peer-reviewed publications was performed and based on the guidelines set out in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews. (3) Results: The final set of publications consisted of 145 publications. Thirty-two viruses were identified in the publications and 50 African ungulates were reported/diagnosed with viral infections. Eighteen countries had viruses diagnosed in wild ungulates reported in the literature. (4) Conclusions: A comprehensive review identified several areas where little information was available and recommendations were made. It is recommended that governments and research institutions offer more funding to investigate and report viral diseases of greater clinical and zoonotic significance. A further recommendation is for appropriate One Health approaches to be adopted for investigating, controlling, managing and preventing diseases. Diseases which may threaten the conservation of certain wildlife species also require focused attention. In order to keep track of these diseases, it may be necessary to consider adding a ""Wildlife disease and infection"" category to the World Organisation for Animal Health-listed diseases." "Human inherited complete STAT2 deficiency underlies inflammatory viral diseases" "Giorgia Bucciol, Leen Moens, Isabelle Meyts" "STAT2 is a transcription factor activated by type I and III IFNs. We report 23 patients with loss-of-function variants causing autosomal recessive (AR) complete STAT2 deficiency. Both cells transfected with mutant STAT2 alleles and the patients' cells displayed impaired expression of IFN-stimulated genes and impaired control of in vitro viral infections. Clinical manifestations from early childhood onward included severe adverse reaction to live attenuated viral vaccines (LAV) and severe viral infections, particularly critical influenza pneumonia, critical COVID-19 pneumonia, and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) encephalitis. The patients displayed various types of hyperinflammation, often triggered by viral infection or after LAV administration, which probably attested to unresolved viral infection in the absence of STAT2-dependent types I and III IFN immunity. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that circulating monocytes, neutrophils, and CD8+ memory T cells contributed to this inflammation. Several patients died from viral infection or heart failure during a febrile illness with no identified etiology. Notably, the highest mortality occurred during early childhood. These findings show that AR complete STAT2 deficiency underlay severe viral diseases and substantially impacts survival." "Viral G Protein–Coupled Receptors: Attractive Targets for Herpesvirus-Associated Diseases" "Elizabeth Elder, Marco Siderius, Raimond Heukers, John Sinclair, Martine J Smit" "Herpesviruses are ubiquitous pathogens that establish lifelong, latent infections in their host. Spontaneous reactivation of herpesviruses is often asymptomatic or clinically manageable in healthy individuals, but reactivation events in immunocompromised or immunosuppressed individuals can lead to severe morbidity and mortality. Moreover, herpesvirus infections have been associated with multiple proliferative cardiovascular and post-transplant diseases. Herpesviruses encode viral G protein–coupled receptors (vGPCRs) that alter the host cell by hijacking cellular pathways and play important roles in the viral life cycle and these different disease settings. In this review, we discuss the pharmacological and signaling properties of these vGPCRs, their role in the viral life cycle, and their contribution in different diseases. Because of their prominent role, vGPCRs have emerged as promising drug targets, and the potential of vGPCR-targeting therapeutics is being explored. Overall, these vGPCRs can be considered as attractive targets moving forward in the development of antiviral, cancer, and/or cardiovascular disease treatments." "Current Status and Prospects of Viral Vector-Based Gene Therapy to Treat Kidney Diseases." "Louise Medaer, Rik Gijsbers" "Inherited kidney diseases are among the leading causes of chronic kidney disease, reducing the quality of life and resulting in substantial socioeconomic impact. The advent of early genetic testing and the growing understanding of the molecular basis and pathophysiology of these disorders have opened avenues for novel treatment strategies. Viral vector-based gene therapies have evolved from experimental treatments for rare diseases to potent platforms that carry the intrinsic potential to provide a cure with a single application. Several gene therapy products have reached the market, and the numbers are only expected to increase. Still, none target inherited kidney diseases. Gene transfer to the kidney has lagged when compared to other tissue-directed therapies such as hepatic, neuromuscular, and ocular tissues. Systemic delivery of genetic information to tackle kidney disease is challenging. The pharma industry is taking steps to take on kidney disease and to translate the current research into the therapeutic arena. In this review, we provide an overview of the current viral vector-based approaches and their potential. We discuss advances in platforms and injection routes that have been explored to enhance gene delivery toward kidney cells in animal models, and how these can fuel the development of viable gene therapy products for humans." "Advances in Visualization Tools for Phylogenomic and Phylodynamic Studies of Viral Diseases" "Philippe Lemey, Anne-Mieke Vandamme, Guy Baele" "Genomic and epidemiological monitoring have become an integral part of our response to emerging and ongoing epidemics of viral infectious diseases. Advances in high-throughput sequencing, including portable genomic sequencing at reduced costs and turnaround time, are paralleled by continuing developments in methodology to infer evolutionary histories (dynamics/patterns) and to identify factors driving viral spread in space and time. The traditionally static nature of visualizing phylogenetic trees that represent these evolutionary relationships/processes has also evolved, albeit perhaps at a slower rate. Advanced visualization tools with increased resolution assist in drawing conclusions from phylogenetic estimates and may even have potential to better inform public health and treatment decisions, but the design (and choice of what analyses are shown) is hindered by the complexity of information embedded within current phylogenetic models and the integration of available meta-data. In this review, we discuss visualization challenges for the interpretation and exploration of reconstructed histories of viral epidemics that arose from increasing volumes of sequence data and the wealth of additional data layers that can be integrated. We focus on solutions that address joint temporal and spatial visualization but also consider what the future may bring in terms of visualization and how this may become of value for the coming era of real-time digital pathogen surveillance, where actionable results and adequate intervention strategies need to be obtained within days." "Abstract book - Joint symposium DSWH & BWDS 2022 'Wildlife diseases going viral'"