On January 1, 2020, public health officials in the United States woke up to news of a strange new virus in China. They had no idea what it was, but at Columbia University in Manhattan, Dr. Ian Lipkin was already concerned.
Efforts to Prevent the Next Pandemic
Lipkin, a virologist, has spent his career studying and reflecting on how to prevent the emergence of new disease agents. He has long advocated for closing live animal markets that may be a source of what became known as the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He later confirmed that a low-security laboratory in Wuhan had no relation to the study of harmful pathogens – “the end of the story” – whether these pathogens were the cause of the pandemic or not.
Developing a System for Rapid Virus Analysis
Now, on the fourth anniversary of that pivotal time, Lipkin and his team at the Mailman School of Public Health are working with several groups around the world to prevent the next global pandemic. They have established a system to analyze viruses, bacteria, and fungi – whether known or currently unknown – present in patients.
Continuous Analysis and Rapid Public Reporting
If hospitals in Wuhan, China, had this system in late 2019 when the first cases with respiratory symptoms began to emerge, they could have analyzed the blood or mucus from affected patients and realized within hours that they were dealing with something new and dangerous.
Global Training and Collaboration
Lipkin’s team has provided three-week training sessions for public health workers in Mexico, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Germany, teaching them how to use tools to quickly identify pathogens through gene sequencing. The idea is to build expertise in the countries involved rather than relying on Americans to discover problems, which takes too long and feels colonial.
Technological Solutions
Currently, work in surveillance is impressive, as it has become possible to track data in massive quantities and at low gene sequencing costs, making it possible to trace pathogens as they spread through populations. These inventions could change the way diseases are fought in general.
Source: https://www.aol.com/4-years-since-covid-hit-100240444.html
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