WELCOME MESSAGE

Dear Colleagues,

We take great pleasure in inviting you to join us for the 9th International Conference on Emerging Zoonoses with an emphasis on Emerging and Transboundary Infectious Diseases, which will take place in Panama, December 5-8, 2021.

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Events in the last years have shown us that we remain vulnerable to sudden outbreaks of previously unknown or forgotten zoonotic pathogens.  Since we met in Kansas, USA in May 2017, we witnessed the emergence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for the current global pandemic. Since first reported in December 2019, over 98 million human cases and 2 million deaths have officially been reported thus far. In addition, Ebola re-emerged twice causing epidemics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses continue to emerge throughout the world, challenging public and animal health systems. As African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) continues to spread across Southeast Asia, Classical Swine Fever virus (CSFV) reports occur in Japan, and Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMDV) spread continues with new strains emerging, there is increased concern that these diseases will spread to developed countries and devastate their economies. There is a significantly raised awareness that zoonoses and transboundary diseases threaten both human and animal health. Therefore, research and policy must focus on a “One Health” perspective in local, national, and international environments.

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In order to properly address these issues in our conference we plan to have workshops which will be organized by experts in their fields. Additionally, for the first time in the history of our conference, we had to postpone our event due to the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.  Therefore, we have devoted a special workshop to the “One Health approach to SARS-CoV-2”.

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Conference topics include:

• One Health approach to SARS-CoV-2

• Emerging and transboundary infectious diseases

• Ecology of emerging Infectious diseases

• Role of wildlife in emerging infectious diseases

• Preparedness and responses to emerging infectious diseases outbreaks

• Food borne infectious diseases

• Modelling and prediction of emerging infectious diseases

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The 9th International Conference on Emerging Zoonoses follows eight successful conferences, each of which provided an interdisciplinary forum for physicians, veterinarians, epidemiologists, immunologists, virologists, microbiologists, public health experts and others concerned with the ever increasing problems associated with the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans and the economic impact of transboundary diseases.

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We hope that you will join in good health and face-to-face in December (with respective COVID-19 prevention measures) to benefit from a stimulating and challenging scientific program.

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Sincerely,