Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is being supported by Public Health England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency into the global health and economic security threats posed by pandemics caused by emerging zoönoses and coronaviruses.

The United Kingdom has robust systems in place to detect, assess and respond to infectious disease threats of both natural and deliberate origin. This was tested during the assessment of the application of the Global Health Security Agenda Assessment Tool and was considered to be an exemplar of good practice. These systems are particularly strong across Public Health England (PHE) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for emerging zoonotic threats, and the UK has been seen as one of the world leaders in putting One Health into action. Zoonotic diseases are included within the Government’s National Risk Register as high risk and needing cross Government action to reduce the threat, mitigate the risk and respond to cases/outbreaks.

PHE undertakes a varied programme of research into infectious agents and medical tools required to detect, diagnose, recognise, and respond to outbreaks of infectious disease. PHE collaborates with academia on modelling threats posed by emerging zoonoses and assess the roles of cross-immunity and seasonal influenza vaccination on the emergence of pandemic strains. During the recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, PHE conducted research on the design and assessment of containment equipment for safe diagnostics in West Africa; improving diagnosis, understanding pathogenesis, and assessing treatment/prevention approaches for Ebola virus disease in animal models and human clinical trials. This capability is and can be applied to all pathogens, including those which are zoonotic.

APHA is engaged in a number of research projects on the subject of zoonotic pathogens with pandemic potential. This includes: the rapid detection of coronaviruses, studies into the ability of H5N1 avian influenza viruses to infect, adapt and become transmissible in mammalian species and research into risks and pathways for the introduction of Chinese-origin H7N9 avian influenza virus into United Kingdom and European poultry. APHA is also engaged in various research projects with international and external collaborators, including European consortiums assessing new and emerging diseases.