During the first reporting period, the project’s overarching goal to foster networking and develop tools for a rapid research response in the event of an outbreak during interepidemic periods was initiated and served to guide the actions of all work packages.
Following the overarching goal, the aim of WP1 is to lay the groundwork for a rapid research response platform to (re)emerging infectious disease using existing cohort networks. WP1 first conducted a landscape analysis to develop a database with standardized descriptions of cohort sites in the Global South and LMICs, then worked to generate a dashboard to be made publicly available on the CONTAGIO website. The underlying database for the survey was developed and piloted, and the information letter, e-consent form, and survey were created in English and subsequently translated into French and Spanish. The toolbox needed for interepidemic maintenance of cohorts to develop a roadmap for repurposing existing cohorts in the event of an outbreak will be included in the final publication of Deliverable 1.2. A broad framework cooperation agreement between different actors and stakeholders was piloted in Colombia through a collaboration between the UIS and the Instituto Nacional de Salud.
WP2 has made progress toward developing a modular electronic case report form (eCRF) for arboviral outbreaks. After evaluation of existing tools and infrastructure, it was decided to collaborate with the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC) on their established eCRF builder, rather than developing a competing product. We focused on the development of an acute febrile illness tool that covers Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya. Because of the Oropouche virus outbreak in the Americas in 2024, an Oropouche component was added to the AFI tool, as well as a vertical transmission CRF co-developed, adapted form the Zika pregnant women cohort CRFs, and allowing for generation of a data dictionary of variables for rapid implementation on EDC tools. Furthermore, the Cohort Browser based at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (eMBL) was further developed and currently includes metadata for 19 cohorts, increasing by 12 during the reporting period.
WP3 has worked directly with cohort study teams to address practical challenges in sharing clinical and epidemiological data from the ZIKAlliance consortium's Pregnant Women and Children cohorts with WHO ZIKV IPD MA and the ReCoDID-CONTAGIO data-sharing repositories, with ethical and institutional approval/waiver/confirmation letters permitting future use and data sharing obtained from each ZIKAlliance institution for each of two data repositories. Efforts were also initiated to enable the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk Assessment, Management and Surveillance (www.idams.eu) partner institutions to share clinical and epidemiological data via the ReCoDID-CONTAGIO platform.
WP4 is a pilot project for the Virtual Biorepository System (VBS), with a goal of establishing an equitable and efficient process for access to globally representative specimens needed for development of diagnostic tests, vaccines, and research to improve epidemic preparedness. The pilot project under the umbrella of the CONTAGIO program designated “10x10” was designed to provide a workable scale for assessing the VBS concept, with 10 initial partners primarily in LMICs which will collect 10 serum and plasma samples. The initial work completed has been published and presented in webinars and meetings and has generated interest resulting in invitations to present key notes at conferences. A draft of several main sections of the governance manual describing the background, VBS organizational structure and responsibilities, and specimen and data access policies has been completed, and a preliminary draft of a specimen collection protocol and Informed Consent template have been prepared.
