Location: Zoonotic and Emerging Disease Research
Project Number: 3022-32000-027-040-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2026
End Date: Jun 30, 2029
Objective:
Objective 1: Sample bats and swine for viral surveillance to determine presence of paramyxoviruses such as Nipah or novel viruses that may pose a risk to agricultural or human health in American Samoa.
Objective 2: Explore the distribution of paramyxoviruses in Pacific U.S. Territories and the Philippines, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands to determine patterns of virus presence that may result in expansion of these pathogens into the U.S. and U.S. Territories.
Objective 3: Isolate and characterize viruses of potential impact to U.S. agriculture as a first step in risk characterization to determine further needs for surveillance and development of diagnostic assays.
Objective 4: Assess the role of domestic pigs in facilitating spillovers. Characterize the nature and frequency of bat roosting habits near piggeries to assess whether pigs may serve as bridge hosts capable of amplifying or transmitting bat-origin viruses to livestock or human populations.
Approach:
Paramyxoviruses, including Newcastle disease virus and related pathogens, pose a significant and ongoing threat to US livestock and poultry operations. The Asia-Pacific region — including US territories such as American Samoa and Guam — represents an understudied frontier where bat, rodent, swine, and human populations overlap in close proximity to agricultural operations. Characterizing the viral exposure landscape in this region is critical to protecting American farmers from the introduction of novel zoonotic pathogens that could devastate domestic livestock industries. TA multi-site field sampling strategy will be implemented in US territories and neighboring areas in the Asia-Pacific region, partnering with in-country veterinarians, wildlife biologists, and public health agencies to obtain blood, urine, guano, and saliva specimens from wild and domestic animals, with a primary focus on swine and bats. Banked samples from existing veterinary and wildlife networks will be leveraged to accelerate early-phase analysis. Formal material transfer agreements and memoranda of agreement will be established with all partner institutions to ensure legally sound and coordinated sample exchange across international boundaries. Collected specimens will be chemically inactivated in the field and transported to the Cooperator's laboratory for molecular analysis. Nucleic acid extractions will be screened using diagnostic quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays targeting a broad panel of known and novel paramyxoviruses. Samples yielding positive results will advance to shotgun ribonucleic acid (RNA) and complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) sequencing to identify the molecular signatures of circulating viruses, including previously undescribed variants with potential agricultural and public health significance. Matched samples will be distributed to collaborating laboratories for confirmatory virus identification and parallel analysis. Detection results will be integrated with geospatial data to map the prevalence and distribution of paramyxovirus exposures across sampling sites, producing actionable surveillance intelligence. Findings will be communicated directly to agricultural and public health stakeholders, providing the scientific foundation needed to strengthen biosecurity protocols and early warning systems that protect US farmers and the broader food supply chain.