Briefly

Epidemics have punctuated human history, transforming societies and shaping economic, political, and cultural structures. Although they have been regularly documented since antiquity, their occurrence has accelerated since the 1980s, underscoring the persistently high vulnerability of human populations to infectious agents, despite significant advances in medicine and biomedical technologies.

T

he COVID-19 pandemic revealed the unpreparedness of governments in the face of epidemic and pandemic threats. It has also given us the opportunity to identify all the actions we need to take to effectively anticipate future health crises. For example, investing in basic research into epidemics in the broadest sense of the term and in more effective public health bodies, devising pandemic response scenarios and ensuring that they can be rapidly implemented where necessary, strengthening epidemiological surveillance and screening systems, relocating the production of equipment and consumables needed to combat epidemics and acquiring sufficient strategic stocks, setting up better training for healthcare professionals in the field of epidemics and strengthening hospital capacities. These actions will enable us to better anticipate and combat future epidemics, and reduce their impact on society, the economy and healthcare systems.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Université de Liège (ULiège) has consistently distinguished itself in the fight against epidemics and pandemics (rinderpest, rabies, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, African swine fever, COVID-19, etc.). This is due to a combination of factors. Firstly, research in the field of infectiology was developed very early on at ULiège. Secondly, disciplines complementary to infectiology (immunology, public health, molecular biology, etc.) have grown exponentially at ULiège in recent decades. Thirdly, ULiège is the only Belgian university, along with UGent, to have a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, which, being often confronted with animal epidemics, has developed cutting-edge expertise in the field. Fourthly, the Faculties of Medicine and Médecine Vétérinaire of ULiège are located in close proximity to each other, which has enabled the establishment of unprecedented collaborations between human and veterinary physicians in the field of immuno-infectiology. These collaborations demonstrated their virtuous potential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, most of the technological solutions developed in Belgium during this pandemic were developed at ULiège.

Aware of their civic responsibility and the threat hanging over humanity, the ULiège scientists who have distinguished themselves in the active fight against COVID-19 have decided to pursue their action by creating, within their University, an Institute of Epidemics. Epidemics are understood in the broadest sense of the term, whether human or animal, local or global (pandemics). The primary objective of this Institute will be to serve society, and the political world in particular, by helping to better anticipate epidemics and pandemics, and to actively combat them should they occur. In concrete terms, its main missions will be active epidemiological monitoring outside crisis periods, identification of carrier animals and people (screening), and measurement of their post-infection and post-vaccination immune responses, during declared epidemics/pandemics, and the creation of a biobank (library of infectious and non-infectious samples and infectious agents) accessible to all researchers.

The Institute of Epidemics thus intends to offer society a turnkey solution for better anticipation and resolution of future epidemics/pandemics which, unfortunately, are bound to occur.