Following the recent Andes virus (ANDV) outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, a globally coordinated outbreak research initiative involving investigators and institutions across 21 countries has begun implementation, demonstrating how international research preparedness systems can be rapidly activated during health emergencies.
The initiative, known as NAVIS, is a natural history study designed to improve understanding of ANDV transmission dynamics, incubation periods, immune responses, viral kinetics, and determinants of severe disease through harmonized longitudinal follow-up of exposed individuals.
The study will use a harmonized prospective protocol, which was developed by Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain, for immediate deployment after an emergency scientific consultation coordinated through the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)-led Hantavirus Collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC) mobilized more than 1600 experts from over 130 countries to identify urgent scientific priorities and coordinate international research activities.
– Closing gaps in our scientific knowledge is key to the development of medical countermeasures, and through international coordination we ensure this is accelerated. Preparedness, therefore, must include the ability to rapidly generate scientific evidence during outbreaks, not only respond to them, said Yper Hall of the UKHSA.
Outbreak research preparedness
By using standardized approaches across countries, NAVIS aims to generate comparable datasets to better understand the pathogen and inform the development of medical countermeasures like tests, treatments and vaccines.
Participating countries include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States.
NAVIS represents a practical example of outbreak research preparedness under the World Health Organization’s R&D Blueprint, which establishes research networks for pathogen families, to support rapid scientific coordination and implementation of outbreak research before emergencies emerge.
Outbreaks such as that of the ANDV present rare opportunities for scientific investigation, with a limited window of time for generating robust evidence. Without rapid coordination and harmonized protocols, opportunities to better understand the pathogen can be lost.
Activating existing research systems
– Scientific evidence generation during outbreaks must become operational, coordinated, and immediately deployable. Future outbreak responses should begin by activating research systems that already exist rather than trying to build them during crises, said Sylvie Briand, Chief Scientist at WHO.
The initiative also highlights the importance of geographically-distributed research preparedness. Countries and regions where outbreaks emerge or pathogens circulate must be central participants in evidence generation through strengthened clinical trial networks, national ethics committees, laboratory systems, surveillance platforms, and outbreak research infrastructure.