NIH: CREID-ECA Closure Weakens Rift Valley Fever and MERS Surveillance

When NIH terminated the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) network in June 2025, it ended support for the Center for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases-East and Central Africa (CREID-ECA), led by Washington State University, curtailing an East and Central Africa–focused effort built to detect and characterize emerging threats at human-animal-environment interfaces. The center’s model combined systematic pathogen discovery with outbreak-ready diagnostics and close linkage to national and regional outbreak response agencies. In addition to technical surveillance, CREID-ECA emphasized epidemiologic and socio-cultural studies to identify risk factors for Rift Valley fever and MERS and guide more effective prevention and control measures—an approach designed to reduce the time between first cases, detection, and response. Ending the center disrupted key partnerships and eroded the infrastructure supporting disease surveillance, research, and response.

The CREID network was established by NIH in 2020 to build outbreak-ready surveillance and research capacity in regions where emerging epidemics are most likely to occur. Through nine research centers, a coordinating center, and more than 100 sites worldwide, CREID linked multidisciplinary teams to study disease transmission dynamics, strengthen local preparedness, and develop improved tools and early warning systems. Its capabilities supported responses to COVID-19 and to outbreaks of Lassa fever, mpox, and other high-consequence pathogens. By operating as a coordinated network, CREID enabled faster sharing of data, specimens, methods, and technical expertise—capabilities that individual projects often cannot sustain. When the centers were terminated in June 2025, the loss was not just individual centers, but a coordinated early-warning and response architecture that supported partners abroad and US preparedness at home.

CREID-ECA was led by Washington State University (Pullman, WA; Kenya) with US partners including Emory University (Atlanta, GA) and Washington University St. Louis (St. Louis, MO), and collaborators in Germany, Belgium, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.