"The UK Health Security Agency is looking to set up an early warning system ahead of future pandemics, launching a £1.3 million (around $1.75 million) program to identify "cutting-edge technologies" which could turn people's pee and poop into valuable data on the spread of viruses."
""Wastewater monitoring has the potential to be central to our work on pathogens that threaten public health. It shows great promise as a cost-effective way for us to quickly detect a range of emerging pathogens, which is vital for an effective response," said UKHSA chief data bod Professor Steven Riley of the plan."
""This is an exciting and important project. The diversity of biological threats is increasing globally, and it's crucial that we stay at the cutting edge of new technology to detect them.""
"The idea of tracking the spread of a virus through monitoring for its genetic material in wastewater isn't new, even in the UK: the UKHSA already carries out routine sampling for poliovirus, in partnership with the World Health Organization as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)."
The UK Health Security Agency is investing £1.3 million to develop technologies that transform wastewater into data for tracking pathogens. Wastewater monitoring is positioned as a cost-effective early detection tool for a range of emerging and endemic diseases. The approach has precedent in routine poliovirus environmental surveillance and was used during COVID-19 peaks, although national COVID wastewater testing ceased in March 2022. The new funding targets detection and tracking of diseases that have not reached pandemic levels, including Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, Mpox, West Nile Virus, and Lassa. The funding does not signal a return to regular COVID-19 wastewater testing.
Read at Theregister
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]