Efforts of researchers and other stakeholders to manage an unfolding epidemic: Lessons from potato purple top in Ecuador

Figures & data

Figure 1. Timeline of events characterising the spread of purple top in the tropical highlands of Ecuador.

Table 1. Enabling responses and associated cross-cutting lessons reported in selected literature on human, animal, and plant epidemics.

Enabling epidemic response areas	Critical lessons identified in the literature review
Collaboration and coordination	Identify clear leadership to facilitate proper collaboration. Key local and international stakeholders need to be involved. For instance, farmers’ organisations, policy makers, and NGOs. Collaboration needs to take place as early as possible in the epidemic. It is necessary to establish a negotiation process to realise concerted actions.
Communication and raising awareness	Share a clear and timely message and reports of the epidemics including yield losses. It is vital to foster regular meetings to keep stakeholders updated. Raising awareness about the epidemics needs to consider the actor and the local context. For instance, local languages and appropriate communication channels.
Design and implementation of interventions	Educated interventions need to be designed as early and as timely as possible considering existing information. Measures should aim to support social adaptation and transformation in the future. Preparedness and contingency plans should be reviewed considering the lessons of previous epidemics, capacity assessment theory and emergency management theory.
Funding	Emergency, medium-, and long-term funding should be made available to: (1) develop rapid and effective control strategies (e.g. identification of causal agent, development of diagnostic tests); (2) implement/strengthen preparedness and contingency plans; (3) improve facilities and capacity building and (4) promote research.
Policies and regulations	Policies and regulations should facilitate the process of management of the epidemic. Regulations should be flexible to work on current and future epidemics depending on the context. Reflect on the role of the pest or disease in the design of new regulations or response plans. There is a need for coordinated international policies to avoid future epidemics.
Research	Implement participatory research strategies such as farmers’ field schools or farmers´ research networks. Implement and integrate a diversity of approaches to facilitate an integral understanding of the epidemic. These could entail modelling (e.g. spatial or network modelling), genomic, social, economic (e.g. variation in production costs), and political approaches.
Surveillance	Early laboratory surveillance is vital for containment of the epidemic. Surveillance strategies should consider monitoring disease dissemination events (e.g. markets or seed exchange fairs) and include secondary databases in a pre-outbreak phase. Data analysis should be carried out and shared openly. Active (provision of information) and passive (reception of information) surveillance are complementary. Hence, close coordination with farmers should be strengthened.

Figure 2. Incidence of potato purple top in 2015 and 2016.

Figure 3. Fields infected with purple top and infested with the potato psyllid in the main potato production provinces of Ecuador from 2018 onwards. Shaded areas show data collected in 2019.

Figure 4. Change of land use in the paramo to avoid the impact of potato purple top. Left: Natural Andean paramo of the volcano Cotopaxi. Right: The same Andean paramo landscape with potato fields on the other side of the road. Pictures taken by Israel Navarrete (8^th January 2020).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.