Thank you, this is fascinating. Is there an option to monitor wastewater just from airports (as well as generally for a whole city)? Then anything brought in on international flights might be less diluted and you might be able to detect it sooner, idk?
I realise that the world is a little bit different than in 1918, but given that the Spanish Flu was spread by troop movements, I wonder what the various militaries are doing and if they see themselves as having a role in pandemic prevention?
The NAO ran a pilot where we worked with the CDC and Ginkgo to collect and sequence pooled airplane toilet waste. We haven’t sequenced these samples as deeply as we would like to yet, but initial results look very promising.
Militaries are generally interested in this kind of thing, but primarily as biodefense: protecting the population and service members.
Thank you, this is fascinating. Is there an option to monitor wastewater just from airports (as well as generally for a whole city)? Then anything brought in on international flights might be less diluted and you might be able to detect it sooner, idk?
I realise that the world is a little bit different than in 1918, but given that the Spanish Flu was spread by troop movements, I wonder what the various militaries are doing and if they see themselves as having a role in pandemic prevention?
The NAO ran a pilot where we worked with the CDC and Ginkgo to collect and sequence pooled airplane toilet waste. We haven’t sequenced these samples as deeply as we would like to yet, but initial results look very promising.
Militaries are generally interested in this kind of thing, but primarily as biodefense: protecting the population and service members.