Biosecurity in Balkans
Curbing Virulent Pathogens for a Healthier Future
The Western Balkans region is a home to several endemic pathogens and zoonotic risks that could present potential pathways for emerging epidemic and pandemic scenarios and associated crisis-response.
The last known occurrence of small-pox was centered in Albania-Kosovo*-Serbia region in 1972 and required considerable national assets to contain (assets now impossible given the fragmentary nature of Western Balkans).
The region is known for the endemic occurrences of the Crimea-Congo Hemorrhagic Virus type (Kosovo* and Albania), Typhus (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro), occurrences of novel-types of Tuberculosis (resulting from the migrations originating in Southern Asia) as well as numerous zoonotic pathogens that could re-emerge given the current climatic changes. We are currently working to develop scenarios and response-types for curbing virulent strains of pathogens originating from the Western Balkans region; model potential reservoirs, spreading pathways and migration routes.
Give particular accent to the considerable migrant populations housed in cramped quarters with less-than-adequate sanitation and potential spread of pathogens into the wider area. We also seek to explore the venues in which the non-state actors could exploit biological agents to create a crisis.
