A collaboration between UK and US funding agencies has announced  more than £3.5M new funding for research aimed at controlling the transmission of diseases amongst humans, animals and the environment.

Scientists hope to improve understanding of the factors affecting disease transmission; they will produce models to aid in predicting and controlling outbreaks. They project is being funded in the UK by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and several institutions in the USA.

Research funded by this UK-US collaboration aims to combat diseases that are particularly prevalent and damaging in the developing world, especially those, called zoonoses, which are transmitted from animals to humans. The BBSRC said, “About 75 per cent of emerging diseases are zoonoses and they pose a serious threat to human health and to global food security.”

The new projects will draw on expertise from both biological and social scientists in order to provide advice to help public health workers in the developing world combat the emergence and spread of disease. The projects will investigate transmission of bacterial diseases, including Weil’s disease and how some viruses can affect a variety of species, while others affect just one. Both will aim to add to existing knowledge on control of viruses and bacterial diseases.

Professor Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of BBSRC, said, "Infectious diseases are a global problem that requires a coordinated international solution. By bringing together the expertise of a diverse range of scientists in the UK and US, these projects will help farmers and officials in the developing world manage the threat of disease.

"Many important emerging diseases are transmitted to people from animals, so combating the spread of infectious diseases in animals is doubly useful: it improves animal health helping to ensure global food security and guards against human disease."