ILRI scientists and research partners contribute to growing body of knowledge on COVID-19

As countries around the world continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in collaboration with national and international research partners, are contributing to the growing body of knowledge on COVID-19 and its impacts on health and food safety.

Listed below is a range of recent research outputs on COVID-19 authored and co-authored by scientists from ILRI’s Animal and Human Health program.

Book chapter

• Bett, B., Randolph, D. and McDermott, J. 2020. Africa’s growing risk of diseases that spread from animals to people. In: Swinnen, J. and McDermott, J. (eds), COVID-19 and global food security. Washington, D.C.: IFPRI. pp. 124–128. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108990

Discussion paper

• Mutua, F., Kang’ethe, E. and Grace, D. 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for food safety in East Africa. ILRI Discussion Paper 40. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/113789

News commentary

• Hung Nguyen-Viet. 2021. I went to Wuhan to investigate the origins of Covid. Here’s what we can learn from Huanan market. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/went-wuhan-investigate-origins-covid-can-learn-huanan-market/

Peer-reviewed articles in journals

• Chen, X., Hu, W., Yang, M., Ling, J., Zhang, Y., Deng, L., Li, J., Lundkvist, Å., Lindahl, J.F. and Xiong, Y. 2021. Risk factors for the delayed viral clearance in COVID-19 patients. Journal of Clinical Hypertension 23(8): 1483–1489. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114129
• Hoffman, T., Nissen, K., Krambrich, J., Rönnberg, B., Akaberi, D., Esmaeilzadeh, M., Salaneck, E., Lindahl, J. and Lundkvist, Å. 2020. Evaluation of a COVID-19 IgM and IgG rapid test; an efficient tool for assessment of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Infection Ecology & Epidemiology 10(1): 1754538. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107986
• Kibugu, J., Munga, L., Mburu, D., Grace, D. and Lindahl, J. 2021. Exposure to chronic dietary aflatoxin poisoning is potentially a compromising condition in COVID-19 patients in Africa. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development 21(6). Letter to the Editor. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114619
• Koopmans, M., Daszak, P., Dedkov, V.G., Dwyer, D.E., Farag, E., Fischer, T.K., Hayman, D.T.S., Leendertz, F., Maeda, K., Hung Nguyen-Viet and Watson, J. 2021. Origins of SARS-CoV-2: window is closing for key scientific studies. Nature 596(7873): 482–485. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114794
• Lindahl, J.F., Hoffman, T., Esmaeilzadeh, M., Olsen, B., Winter, R., Amer, S., Molnár, C., Svalberg, A. and Lundkvist, Å. 2020. High seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in elderly care employees in Sweden. Infection Ecology & Epidemiology 10(1): 1789036. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108957
• Lindahl, J.F., Olsen, B. and Lundkvist, Å. 2020. COVID-19—a very visible pandemic. Lancet 396(10248): e16. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109372
• Ling, J., Hickman, R.A., Li, J., Lu, X., Lindahl, J.F., Lundkvist, Å. and Järhult, J.D. 2020. Spatio-temporal mutational profile appearances of Swedish SARS-CoV-2 during the early pandemic. Viruses 12(9): 1026. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109753

Popular science articles

• Marks, N. and Fèvre, E. 2020. Don’t lose focus on diseases of poverty in COVID-19 crisis. SciDev.Net. https://www.scidev.net/global/coronavirus/opinion/don-t-lose-focus-on-diseases-of-poverty-in-covid-19-crisis.html
• Mutua, F., Grace, D. and Kang’ethe, E. 2021. How COVID-19 measures have affected food safety in East Africa. The Conversation. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114198
• Randolph, D.G., McClafferty, B. and Lambertini, E. 2020. A bridge too far: Covid-19, disease transmission, and the food system. Nutrition Connect. https://nutritionconnect.org/resource-center/blog-31-bridge-too-far-covid-19-disease-transmission-and-food-system

Posters

• Okoth, E. and Oyola, S. 2020. Repurposing ILRI labs to support national COVID-19 testing in Kenya. Poster prepared for the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock Africa 1 regional online meeting, 2-3 September 2020. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109214
• Sharma, G., Dey, T.K., Garlapati, S., Grace, D., Shome, R. and Lindahl, J.F. 2020. Secondary effects of COVID-19 on One Health. Poster presented at the virtual edition of the 6th World One Health Congress, 30 October–3 November 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110068

Video

• Nene, V. 2020. The race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Video. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108427

Webinar presentations

• Grace, D. 2020. Envisioning One Health post-COVID. Contribution to a webinar by Pontifical Catholic University, Chile on COVID-19: One Health and Our Future, 30 July 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109148
• Grace, D. 2020. The role of data in predicting and responding to emerging zoonotic diseases. Contribution to an online discussion: How can the Livestock Data for Decisions community respond to COVID-19? 27 May 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109149
• Grace, D. 2021. Food safety in the era of COVID-19: Ensuring consumers’ trust. Keynote presentation at a webinar on ‘Food safety in the context of sustainable food systems: Moving forward for a healthy tomorrow in Europe and Central Asia’, 7 June 2021. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114792
• Knight-Jones, T. 2020. Urban informal markets in Africa: Challenges of crisis. Contribution to a roundtable webinar by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) on COVID-19 crisis: Implications for food systems in developing economies (Focus on Africa), 17 April 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108143
• Nene, V. 2021. Potential impacts of COVID-19 research on livestock health research and innovation. Presentation at a virtual event ‘Building back better: How can public food and agricultural research institutions be strengthened and rebuilt after the COVID-19 pandemic?’, 2 February 2021. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/114793

ILRI is one of 15 research centres of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. For more information on CGIAR’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, read about CGIAR research on COVID-19 or visit the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub.

Photo credit: Live chicken vendor, Hung Yen province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Nguyen Ngoc Huyen)