Staying vigilant in the new age of pandemics
Covid-19 taught the world that global surveillance and coordinated, rapid response are key to stopping future viral threats.
By Gavin Cloherty, Ph.D., head of infectious disease research and the Pandemic Defense Coalition, Abbott
We have entered a new age of pandemics, which requires a new way of fighting infectious diseases.
Deforestation, global travel, urban crowding and a warming climate are accelerating the spread of infectious diseases as animals and insects are driven to different habitats, bringing them in closer contact with humans. Viruses then have an easier time making the jump from insects and animals to humans.
As an infectious disease scientist at Abbott, I can tell you that an infectious disease outbreak anywhere threatens people everywhere.
Covid-19 taught us the power of global collaboration, but as we recently saw with monkeypox (now referred to as Mpox) and the return of polio, viral threats continue to evolve and emerge—and they’re moving fast.
To prevent the next pandemic, we must move faster and work more closely together. And that means turning the lessons we’ve learned into collective action. Vigilance requires increased global surveillance through coalitions of doctors, researchers and scientists; a renewed focus on both new infectious diseases and ones we thought were wiped out or controlled; and long-lasting partnerships between government and companies to mount fast, coordinated responses to emerging threats. Here are my three key takeaways from the covid-19 pandemic.
1. Detect viral threats earlier through global surveillance
Ongoing global surveillance is key to preventing the next pandemic. Covid-19 made it painfully clear no one country or organization can go it alone.
If we want to keep pace with new and changing viruses, we need researchers and virus hunters on the ground collecting, logging and monitoring diverse pathogens—from the rainforests of Thailand and Brazil to the savannas of South Africa to the metropolitan areas of the United States and India. Only with biologically diverse, active surveillance can we stay a step ahead of circulating viral threats.
This type of surveillance network ensures findings are quickly shared with international partners to conduct genetic sequencing to identify characteristics that may indicate a new threat. Real-time research allows teams to develop and use prototype diagnostic tests, enabling collaboration between science and public health institutions to assess risk levels and pandemic potential.
The good news? This type of global collaboration and surveillance isn’t years away. It’s taking place right now.
Last year, my company, Abbott, a global healthcare leader with a deep history in infectious disease testing, formed the Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition—a first-of-its-kind, industry-led global scientific and public health partnership dedicated to improving early detection and rapid response to viral threats.
The Coalition, comprised of scientific and public health organizations located around the world, is working to help prevent the next pandemic. However, to effectively raise our global pathogenic defenses, we can’t simply focus on new infectious diseases—we have to keep a close eye on old ones too.
2. Double down on underappreciated pathogens
If you laid all the microscopic viruses on earth end-to-end, they would stretch for 100 million light years.
While covid-19 stressed the importance of spotting and tracking new pathogen threats, Mpox reinforced the importance of not ignoring what’s already out there.
According to the World Health Organization, Mpox was first identified in humans in 1970. Until earlier this year, it circulated in limited outbreaks in regions of Central and West Africa. In the recent outbreak, more than 90 percent of reported cases were in locations that have not historically reported Mpox.
The Pandemic Defense Coalition was quickly activated and has been monitoring and analyzing the Mpox virus since the start of the outbreak, and Abbott provided a PCR test for research use to members of the Coalition to help support local efforts. We also designed a second test for central laboratories globally.
We can no longer assume an infection happening across the globe isn’t going to impact everyone. It can, it has and it will.
That’s exactly why Abbott’s Pandemic Defense Coalition is in place, building a robust virus hunter workforce around the globe. Teams are using the latest technology and scientific methodology to analyze threats and quickly share information on pathogens, new and old. In recent times, innovative surveillance has led the Coalition to the discovery of a novel picobirnavirus associated with acute respiratory illness, as well as the emergence of oropouche virus in Colombia which causes a flu-like illness.
With timely insight on the latest viral threats or changes, virus hunters can arm the scientific and public health communities with critical details. In turn, these experts can work quickly to ensure proper health protocols are in place and validate that existing vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tests remain effective.
3. Integrate public and private sectors for coordinated, rapid response
This new age of pandemics demands increased and effective cooperation and collaboration on all levels, but especially between the public and private sectors across governments, health authorities and private companies.
In response to covid-19, private companies stepped up to rapidly develop and manufacture tests and vaccines. Abbott developed and scaled global manufacturing for 12 covid-19 antigen, molecular and antibody tests, providing more than two billion diagnostic tests around the world to address the pandemic. It’s critical that governments continue to work with private companies to procure materials, secure manufacturing capacity and coordinate a public health response strategy to raise pandemic defenses.
To be most efficient, public and private sectors must collaborate across continents and oceans too. Viruses know no borders. Neither should our efforts to combat them. We must work to make that process as seamless and safe as possible.
Abbott’s Pandemic Defense Coalition coordinates with our partners on the ground to track SARS-CoV-2, Mpox, hepatitis, HIV and other global viruses by running thousands of viral sequences and screening samples of countless unknown illnesses in order to stay one step ahead of the next threat so we can respond quickly and prevent widespread impact.
If a potential threat is discovered, the virus sequence is published in a public database so health officials and laboratories can work together to identify if it’s a novel strain or a virus that has been previously detected.
When the covid-19 Omicron variant appeared first in South Africa, our partner, the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, quickly shared the sequence and tested samples. That allowed us to confirm our covid-19 tests could detect it.
This is the type of collaboration and teamwork we need to encourage, not hinder. That means working across government agencies to remove unnecessary barriers for international shipping and sharing of research use tests and samples.
In an increasingly connected and interdependent world, it is imperative to streamline pandemic detection and response—improving connections between international networks, governments and public health organizations involved in global health decisions. In doing so, we raise pandemic defenses for all.
We can’t act on what we don’t know.
Viruses move fast. By working together, we can move faster.
Learn more today at: www.abbott.com/virushunters.html.
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