全球重大疫情下的科研合作格局及其演化——以SARS、H1N1、西非Ebola和COVID-19研究为例

国际合作不仅是全球探索前沿科学的主导力量,也是全球应对资源环境、气候变化、健康卫生、公共安全等问题的最佳途径。本文基于Web of Science核心数据库,系统梳理了几次全球重大疫情期间的围绕病毒及相关研究的科研合作情况及其演化态势。研究发现：① 在SARS、H1N1、西非Ebola病毒及相关研究的国际合作上,美国皆扮演重要角色,但中国香港在SARS病毒研究上以及欧洲国家在Ebola病毒研究上也发挥关键作用。② 通过截取四个时间节点上的COVID-19研究文献发表情况发现,中国和美国是两个最为重要的国家,尤其是中美之间的国际合作更是架构COVID-19研究国际合作网络的骨架。鉴于当前COVID-19全球大流行态势,本文建议中国研究机构应当充分利用此次COVID-19病毒在中国较早被发现的“契机”和当前中国有效控制的局势,继续加强对COVID-19病毒及疫苗的各项研究,强化对病毒动物宿主和传播途径的了解,并积极与国外科研机构,尤其是与疫情严重国家和地区的科研机构进行合作,提升科研实力和国际影响力。在合作策略上可借助中国香港地区的优势,与国外相关研究机构开展三方或多方合作。     

Spatiotemporal environmental triggers of Ebola and Marburg virus transmission

Despite their fame, Ebola and Marburg viruses (family Filoviridae) remain mysterious. Filovirus outbreaks are restricted to tropical Africa, but their likely geographic extent has been outlined only recently, and their natural reservoir host(s) remains unidentified. If environmental conditions associated with outbreaks in space and time can be identified precisely, much could be learned about the ecology, evolution and transmission of these viruses. We examined five filovirus outbreaks for which time series of remotely sensed data (NDVI values) are available and for which the reservoir-to-human index case transmission timing and location are known. A wavelet analysis was used to detect anomalous behaviour in the NDVI signal across multiple time scales for each outbreak. Scale-wise anomalies were manifested at a 20-day scale, and were found in four of the five sites, one to three weeks preceding outbreaks, suggesting that filovirus-caused disease outbreaks may be associated with either behavioural shifts in a vertebrate host or changes in viral population dynamics. More generally, wavelet analysis offers a powerful tool for identifying temporal correlates of disease transmission events.     

Satellites and the New War on Infection: Tracking Ebola in West Africa

Satellite technologies are increasingly being deployed to manage infectious disease outbreaks. Although there is a substantive literature concerned with the geopolitics of space and the ethical issues raised by the use of remote sensing in warfare and counterinsurgency, little study has been made of the critical role played by satellites in public health crises. In this paper, we focus on the 2014–2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa, which saw the widespread use of public and commercial satellite-derived data, to investigate how overhead orbital and close-up viewpoints enabled by satellites are shaping attitudes to disease and determining responses to infectious threats. We argue that high-resolution satellite imagery is acting as a spur to a new spatio-temporal targeting of disease that parallels the ever more vertical dimension of contemporary warfare. At the same time, this new visualization of disease is promoting a broader ecological perspective on pathogen emergence. How can these divergent perspectives be reconciled? In addressing this question, we analyze the different uses to which satellite imagery has been put in tracking and mapping Ebola ‘hotspots’ across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. We also consider the institutional contexts that have enabled the acquisition of this imagery. Given the rapid integration of space technologies in epidemiology and health logistics, there is now a need to examine how and with what consequences remote-sensing and communication technologies may be reconfiguring the practices and scope of global health.