Pandemic prep: Hong Kong disease expert, global research alliance vow to focus studies on flu and coronaviruses before next major disease emerges

A newly inaugurated alliance of top scientists from six global institutions, including the University of Hong Kong (HKU), will prioritise studying influenza and coronaviruses as part of efforts to prepare for the next potential pandemic.

Pandemic Research Alliance founding members professors Zhong Nanshan and Yuen Kwok-yung on Monday also called for calm in response to outbreaks of mycoplasma pneumoniae around the world, including in mainland China, stressing that the disease was treatable.

HKU’s Yuen said the newly launched alliance, which he helped establish alongside renowned virologist Professor David Ho of Columbia University, would see members collaborating on studies, sharing their research and applying for funding together.

The group of top infectious disease experts planned to focus on viruses that could spread from animals to humans, as well as those that could spread between people, said Yuen, the alliance’s chairman-designate.

“Influenza is the first on the list, because of its ability to mutate … we have so many animal influenza viruses on board,” he said. “The second, of course, are coronaviruses. We have so many coronaviruses and have had so many outbreaks.”

The alliance’s membership also includes scientists from University of Melbourne’s Doherty Institute in Australia, Singapore’s Duke-NUS Medical School, Guangzhou National Laboratory and Tsinghua University on the mainland.

Yuen said the organisation also hoped to study other conditions such as the paramyxovirus, which is linked to the fatal Nipah virus, and enteroviruses, which mostly cause illness among youngsters.