BACKGROUND The Global Virome Project (GVP) was proposed in 2018 as an evolution of the USAID PREDICT project and was presented as a “collaborative scientific initiative to discover zoonotic viral threats and stop future pandemics”. The immediate response was mixed, with public health and scientific communities representatives showing skepticism, if not direct opposition. OBJECTIVES The economic, social, and health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated how unprepared the world was in the face of new pandemics. This paper analyses the impact of the GVP on the scientific and public health communities. METHODS Published scientific articles that cited the two 2018 seminal publications proposing the project were analysed using social network analysis methods. FINDINGS Encompassing the periods before and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the results indicate that (i) the concepts of the GVP have received more support than opposition in the scientific literature; (ii) its foundations should be updated to address the specific criticisms. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Shifting focus to national virome projects can provide tangible, regional benefits that can positively contribute towards a consensus on achieving a high level of preparedness for the ever-present possibility of the following global viral pandemic.

BACKGROUND Despite the current global trend of reduction in the morbidity and mortality of neglected diseases, dengue’s incidence has increased and occurrence areas have expanded. Dengue also persists as a scientific and technological challenge since there is no effective treatment, vaccine, vector control or public health intervention. Combining bibliometrics and social network analysis methods can support the mapping of dengue research and development (R&D) activities worldwide. OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to map the scientific scenario related to dengue research worldwide. METHODS We use scientific publication data from Web of Science Core Collection - articles indexed in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) - and combine bibliometrics and social network analysis techniques to identify the most relevant journals, scientific references, research areas, countries and research organisations in the dengue scientific landscape. FINDINGS Our results show a significant increase of dengue publications over time; tropical medicine and virology as the most frequent research areas and biochemistry and molecular biology as the most central area in the network; USA and Brazil as the most productive countries; and Mahidol University and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz as the main research organisations and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention as the most central organisation in the collaboration network. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Our findings can be used to strengthen a global knowledge platform guiding policy, planning and funding decisions as well as to providing directions to researchers and institutions. So that, by offering to the scientific community, policy makers and public health practitioners a mapping of the dengue scientific landscape, this paper has aimed to contribute to upcoming debates, decision-making and planning on dengue R&D and public health strategies worldwide.

O presente trabalho apresenta um metodologia para o estudo da comunicação científica derivado dos métodos de análise de redes. São analisadas as relações profissionais de colaboração científica entre autores que utilizam a coautoria, uma nova subárea da comunicação científica que vem ganhando espaço na ciência da informação. Na coautoria, dois autores quaisquer são definidos como tendo um relacionamento caso tenham colaborado na produção de um artigo ou publicação científica. O artigo investiga se tal associação permite entender as problemáticas da colaboração científica, como por exemplo, se o conhecimento está concentrado em alguns poucos países ou indivíduos, e como esses indivíduos se relacionam. A metodologia desenvolvida se baseia no modelo exploratório proposto por Nooy, Mrvar e Batagelj (2011). Do ponto de vista da bibliometria, foram analisadas as colaborações científicas na base de dados Web of Science. Os resultados alcançados demonstraram que a pesquisa sobre coautoria se espalha por diversos países e por diferentes áreas de interesse. Observa-se que a associação dos métodos de bibliometria e análise de redes contribui para uma melhor interpretação de resultados, principalmente por meio da inspeção visual que a análise de redes proporciona.

This work presents a method to the study of scientific communication derived from network analysis methods. It has been analyzed the professional relationships of scientific collaboration between authors that use co-authoship, a new sub-area in scientific communication that has gained space in information science. In co-authorship, any two authors are defined as having a relationship if they have collaborated in the production of an article or scientific publication. This paper investigates whether this association allows the comprehension of the problems of scientific collaboration, for example, if knowledge is concentrated in a few countries or individuals, and how these individuals relate to each other. The methodology is based on the exploratory model proposed by Nooy, Mrvar e Batagelj (2011). From the point of view of bibliometrics, scientific collaborations were analyzed in the Web of Science database. The results obtained showed that the field of co-authorship spans several countries and different areas of interest. It is observed that the association of bibliometric methods and network analysis contributes to a better interpretation of the results, mainly through the visual inspection that network analysis methods are able to provide.

A new multiplex assay platform was evaluated to detect Trypanosoma cruzi infection using the recombinant antigens CRA, FRA, CRAFRA fusion and parasite lysate. The antigens presented different sensitivity and specificity in a singleplex test when compared to a serial dilution of two pools comprising 10 positive serum samples and one pool of 10 negative samples. The recombinant protein CRA presented lower sensitivity (55%) in contrast to the 100% specificity and sensitivity of FRA, CRAFRA and T. cruzi lysate. These antigens also showed good results in a duplex test and the duplex test with CRAFRA/T. cruzi lysate showed better performance with 100% specificity and sensitivity, as well as a lower cut-off value in comparison to the other duplex test, FRA/T. cruzi lysate. Hence, when the antigens were used in duplex format, both tests showed decreased cut-off values and no interference between different bead sets, resulting in increasing sensitivity and specificity. The results of these multiplex tests show that they could be an alternative to singleplex detection for Chagas disease, and also indicate the necessity of using multiplex diagnostic tools to increase the sensitivity and specificity for diagnostic tests. Emerging data from the T. cruzi genome and from its ORFeome project will also allow the identification of new antigens for this disease detection application.