Ebola, MERS and Chikungunya: Methodological issues in responding to emerging disease threats

From Ebola in West Africa, to MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia, to Chikungunya in the Americas, over the past year infectious diseases have made headlines. Emerging infectious diseases present unique methodological challenges, and require innovation to answer even the most basic epidemiologic questions. Incidence, mortality and transmissibility are often unknown, presenting a quandary for public health organizations: overreaction can waste resources and erode public trust, but an inadequate response can lead to disaster. Speakers will use MERS-CoV and Ebola to highlight practical challenges and illustrate novel methodological approaches. Thais Dos Santos will discuss her experiences working for WHO as an epidemiologist in Liberia at the height of the Ebola epidemic; Derek Cummings will present work characterizing Ebola transmission and surveillance in West Africa; and Justin Lessler will discuss methods for estimating the true number of MERS-CoV cases from active and passive surveillance data. The three speakers will be joined by Morgan Hennessey, and EIS officer who worked on Ebola in Liberia, for a panel discussion after the talks.