Conservation Medicine works with EcoHealth Alliance to develop science-based solutions to prevent pandemics and promote conservation.
Projects
Learn how our work in Malaysia and South East Asia are helping to identify and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Publications
& Press
Read the papers and reports relating to our studies, and access media coverage of our activities.
Resources
Download manuals, guides and toolkits we have developed with our partners for communities and researchers.
Conservation
Strengthening laboratory capacity, raising public awareness and reporting the ecological effects of land-use change.
/ Specialities
We have a unique skill set that enables us to train, research, discover and develop.
HUMAN, WILDLIFE AND LIVESTOCK SAMPLING
ZOONOTIC PATHOGEN SURVEILLANCE AND DISCOVERY
ONE HEALTH TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT, BIOSAFETY AND BIOSECURITY
ZOONOSIS, LAND USE CHANGE AND CONSERVATION RESEARCH
/ Projects
Learn how our projects in Malaysia and South East Asia are helping identify and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Infectious Disease Emergence and Economics of Altered Landscapes (IDEEAL)
Quantifying the economic costs of the impact of deforestation on malaria outcomes in Sabah, Malaysia, and determining the optimal amount of land to be converted to agriculture that minimised these costs.
PREDICT
Funded by USAID this project discovered novel zoonotic viruses in wildlife before they could potentially become human epidemics, and identified the factors that drive their emergence, amplification, and spread in populations.
EID-SEARCH
Funded by NIAID, the creation of the Emerging Infectious Diseases / South East Asia Research Collaboration Hub aims to discover new viruses and characterise their risk of spillover to people, as well as identifying evidence of virus outbreaks not being detected by normative diagnostics.
WHO Laboratory Biosafety and Risk Assessment Manuals
Working with the WHO and MORU to strengthen laboratory capacity in South East Asia.
Biosurveillance of Henipaviruses & Filoviruses
Funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Biological Threat Reduction Program, this project aims to strengthen capacity for serological surveillance within national labs and characterise henipavirus and filovirus exposure in bats, livestock and people in Peninsular Malaysia.
***TABLET VERSION***
/ Projects
Learn how our projects in Malaysia and South East Asia are helping identify and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Infectious Disease Emergence and Economics of Altered Landscapes (IDEEAL)
Quantifying the economic costs of the impact of deforestation on malaria outcomes in Sabah, Malaysia, and determining the optimal amount of land to be converted to agriculture that minimised these costs.
PREDICT
Funded by USAID this project discovered novel zoonotic viruses in wildlife before they could potentially become human epidemics, and identified the factors that drive their emergence, amplification, and spread in populations.
EID-SEARCH
Funded by NIAID, the creation of the Emerging Infectious Diseases / South East Asia Research Collaboration Hub aims to discover new viruses and characterise their risk of spillover to people, as well as identifying evidence of virus outbreaks not being detected by normative diagnostics.
WHO Laboratory Biosafety and Risk Assessment Manuals
Working with the WHO and MORU to strengthen laboratory capacity in South East Asia.
Biosurveillance of Henipaviruses & Filoviruses
Funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Biological Threat Reduction Program, this project aims to strengthen capacity for serological surveillance within national labs and characterise henipavirus and filovirus exposure in bats, livestock and people in Peninsular Malaysia.
/ Publications & Press
Download papers and reports from our research to learn about our findings and understand how land-use change is affecting zoonotic spillover.
/ COVID-19
How Conservation Medicine is involved in gaining further understanding of COVID-19, and helping to combat the global pandemic.
First diagnoses in Malaysia
On January 25th 2020, the first three human cases in Malaysia were diagnosed by the Ministry of Health using the Corona Quan protocol from the PREDICT project, after the Ministry of Health reached out to us for suggestions for diagnostic options while waiting for the primers, probes and controls for the WHO COVID-19 Berlin qPCR protocol to arrive in Malaysia.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) donations
In March and April 2020 we donated PPE to Sabah State Health Department, Tawau District in Sabah, and the Selangor State Health Department to help support the Malaysian response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Sharing of information
Between January and March 2020 during the early stages of the outbreak we shared information, provided by our partners involved in the international response to COVID-19, with the Ministry of Health and colleagues on the front line in Malaysia on the latest testing protocols, PPE guidelines, biosafety advice and recommendations, SOPs for disinfecting in different settings and handling bodies, advice on serology platforms, SARS-CoV-2 risk assessment and relevant papers on SARS-CoV-2.
Arranging primers, probes and controls for WHO
In May 2020 through the PREDICT project we arranged for primers, probes, and controls for the WHO COVID-19 Berlin qPCR protocol for the National Public Health Laboratory, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory to help support their testing efforts.
Wildlife testing
In August 2020 through the PREDICT project, we screened 1254 archive samples in Malaysia from 1207 animals, including 28 priority species considered potential reservoir or host species for SARS-CoV-2, using a conventional PCR method modified from the COVID-19 Berlin protocol as part of a global effort to better understand the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any of the samples.
Organised testing supplies
Between June and September 2020 working with the US Embassy and using funds provided by the USAID Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance team in Bangkok, Conservation Medicine helped organise, source, and coordinate the delivery of supplies for testing 10,000 people – valued at USD$300K – for the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory to help support the Ministry of Health in their impressive response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
/ Partners
***MOBILE VERSION***
/ Partners
