NIH: CREATE-NEO Shutdown Disrupts Arboviral Surveillance in Americas

When NIH terminated the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases (CREID) network in June 2025, it ended support for the Coordinating Research on Emerging Arboviral Threats Encompassing the Neotropics (CREATE-NEO) center, led by the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), disrupting a Central and South America–focused program designed to anticipate and counter emerging arboviral threats before they spread widely.

The center’s focus included dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, Mayaror, viruses endemic to the region, that can surge rapidly and increasingly interact with issues of urban expansion and mobility across the region. CREATE-NEO’s approach integrated ecological monitoring, animal and human surveillance including wastewater testing, and machine-learning predictive models, to build comprehensive maps of circulating viruses and predict where spillover risk is rising, supporting earlier, more targeted interventions. The center also strengthened laboratory, surveillance, and research capacity across Central and South America through training programs, south-to-south collaboration, and mentorship of early-career scientists.

The termination largely ended this coordinated work oversight, stopping most research activities, though some international partner sites have remained active due to emergency support from their governments. The center’s closure has slowed the generation of actionable risk information, reducing regional outbreak response capabilities and US visibility on threats circulating just south of our border.

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.

CREATE-NEO was led by the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston, TX), with US partners including the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies (Millbrook, NY), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA), and New Mexico State University (University Park, NM), and collaborators across Brazil and Panama.