Asia-Pacific Conference on Wildlife Borne Pathogens
Dr. Ian Barker (CCWHC, Ontario-Nunavut Region) and Dr. Catherine Soos (Environment Canada), were invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the United States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), to represent Canada at the “Asia Pacific Conference on Wildlife Borne Diseases,” in Beijing, China, from July 19-23, 2010. This conference was jointly led by the CAS, Bureau of Life Science and Biotechnology (CAS-BLBT), the State Forestry Administration of China – Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management (SFA-DWCM), and the USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services, and was hosted by the CAS – Institute of Zoology (CAS-IOZ), the International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS), and the China Zoological Society (CZS). The theme of this conference was on research, prevention and control of important wildlife borne diseases in the Asia-Pacific. The objectives of this conference were to: (1) promote collaboration in the field of wildlife diseases among countries and districts in the Asia-Pacific region; (2) share activities related to investigation, surveillance, and research on wildlife diseases; and (3) coordinate the cooperation and communication of specialists across multiple disciplines.
Both participants gave oral and poster presentations (see below for titles), and participated in an international round table discussion on surveillance and management of wildlife diseases. The round table resulted in the initiation of the Asia-Pacific Wildlife Disease Network, which aims to create a communication network to enable scientists and managers across countries and disciplines working on wildlife diseases to share information among their peers, to facilitate collaboration and capacity building, and to strengthen international partnerships and surveillance networks.
