British scientists are creating innovative new methods for monitoring the genetic evolution of respiratory viruses as they spread across the globe. The goal is to utilize the system as an early warning mechanism for emerging illnesses and potential pandemics.
According to The Guardian, the Cambridgeshire-based team plans to make the technology affordable, user-friendly, and scalable to be used for worldwide viral monitoring. Influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), coronaviruses, and even as-yet-unidentified infections would be a target.
A System to Detect All Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Species
The long-term goal of the Respiratory Virus and Microbiome Initiative is the development of a system that uses DNA sequencing technology to detect and identify all viral, bacterial, and fungal species present in a single nasal swab sample.
According to project leader Dr. Ewan Harrison of the world-renowned genetics research and DNA sequencing facility, the Sanger Institute, "Britain was at the leading edge of the genomic surveillance of Covid-19 and was responsible for about 20% of all the Sars-CoV-2 genomes that were sequenced across the planet during the pandemic."
Dr. Harrison said they were able to follow the evolution of Sars-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19, with remarkable speed and precision owing to the information and insights they produced.
The current goal is to aid in establishing worldwide respiratory virus genomic monitoring. After all, Dr. Harrison said, these are the agents most likely to cause new pandemics.
Coronaviruses are a warning sign of potential future pandemics. In the last 20 years, three distinct coronaviruses-SARS in China and its neighbors, MERS in the Middle East, and Covid-19 around the globe-emerged to infect people.
Yet it was during the Covid pandemic that genetic surveys were used, and their extraordinary potential was made clear.
The technology demonstrated that the abrupt increase in Covid cases in southeast England in December 2020 was caused by the emergence of a new, more infectious variety.
Aiming for an Inexpensive, Quick, and Scalable System
The Sanger team is working with the UK Health Security Agency, British universities, and other public health organizations to develop methods to sequence all viral variants from a single sample. Patients who have just been admitted to a hospital are a good source for these samples since that is when a disease is most likely to show up in the wild.
Such technology, however, would need to be transferable to research facilities in other parts of the globe. John Sillitoe, head of the genomic surveillance team at the Sanger Institute, said the system needed to be as simple, inexpensive, quick, and scalable as possible to be effective on a global scale.
Dr. Harrison told The Guardian that three variants of the technology were now undergoing testing. "Over the coming months, we will be seeing if we can swap bits and possibly come up with a hybrid in the end."
He noted that the goal would be to have a workable system operational in a year.
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