Arenaviridae Date published:March2026Version 1.0 Top 10Research &Development Priorities Ecology and Epidemiology •Develop comprehensive surveillance tools that combine ecological, climatic and humanbehaviour to better understand transmission dynamics and spillover drivers. •Strengthen public health detection and reporting of arenavirus infection by standardisingsurveillance case definitions, improving diagnostic confirmation pathways, and ensuring •Establish and maintain a central, accessible repository of well-characterised arenavirusisolates with robust governance, biosafety and metadata frameworks to support global Viral Family Biology •Elucidate the virus-host interactions and immune evasions, including understandingthe mechanisms of immunosuppression, and investigate the similarities and Diagnostics •Expand and standardise diagnostic capacity across endemic regions by improving testingcapability in rural and low-resource facilities. This includes increasing workforce capacity,establishing robust referral links to higher-tier laboratories and implementing laboratory •Developharmonised, evidence-based diagnostic standards and quality assurancesystems (including proficiency panels, access to reference materials and standardised RT- •Define and standardise Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for centralised and near-patientdiagnostics and establish regulatory-grade validationprotocols and criteria to guide Therapeutics and Vaccines •Establish standardised, safe, BSL2-compatible surrogate assays and reverse-geneticssystems for drug screening. •Develop effective vaccines, especially broad-spectrum or pan-arenavirus vaccines, toidentify correlates of protection for multiple arenaviruses, and develop robust animal •Establish harmonised clinical trial endpoints, case definitions and diagnosticalgorithms to ensure that therapeutic and vaccine studies generate comparable, high-quality data across trial sites and arenavirus-endemic regions. Content7 8 Top 10 Research & Development Priorities...............................................................................29Content......................................................................................................................................310Abbreviations.............................................................................................................................411Introduction...............................................................................................................................612Current Landscape of Medical Countermeasures.....................................................................913Time-Phased Milestones by Thematic Area............................................................................1014Table 1–Reservoirs and Transmission................................................................................1015Table 2–Surveillance...........................................................................................................1216Table 3–Viral Family Biology..............................................................................................1317Table 4–Diagnostics............................................................................................................1518Table 5–Therapeutics.........................................................................................................1719Table 6–Vaccines................................................................................................................1820Table 7–Regulatory and Clinical Development..................................................................1921Table 8–Social and Behavioural Science (SBS) and Community Engagement...................2022Research and Knowledge Gaps................................................................................................2123Reservoirs and Transmission................................................................................................2124Surveillance..........................................................................................................................2325Viral Family Biology..............................................................................................................2526 Abbreviations ACEGIDAfrica Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious DiseasesAHFArgentinian Haemorrhagic FeverANLISAdministración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud (Argentina)BSLBiosafety LevelCABCommunity Advisory BoardCDCCenters for Disease Control and PreventionCE/IVDConformité Européenne / In Vitro DiagnosticCEPICoalition for Epidemic Preparedness InnovationsCHAPVChapare virusCIDRAPCenter for Infectious Disease Research and PolicyCLSIClinical and Laboratory Standards InstituteCORCCollaborative Open Research ConsortiumCRPC-reactive ProteinEDCTPEuropean & Developing Countries Clinical Trials PartnershipELISAEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent AssayEULEmergency Use ListingFCFlow CytometryFDAFood and D