Zoonotic Arbo and Respiratory Virus Program

The Zoonotic Arbo- and Respiratory Virus (ZARV) program in the Centre for Viral Zoonosis, University of Pretoria, investigates unsolved cases of febrile, neurological and encephalitis in humans in hospitals in South Africa as well as several other African countries using genus specific PCRs for arboviruses as well as multi-pathogen platforms for differential diagnoses. In addition, the unit has a network of over 150 veterinarians contributing towards successful and rapid syndromic surveillance in animals with neurological signs as well as abortions outbreaks that serves as an early warning system for outbreaks of zoonotic vectorborne viruses over the past 8 years. This combined with targeted vector surveillance provide an effective One Health approach to pathogen discovery and to describing the epidemiology of these viruses.