How disease detectives are hunting for viruses at major U.S. airports
Over the past year, more than 135 million passengers travel to the United States from other countries. For infectious disease experts, the chances of outbreaks are 135 million. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been cautious in searching for viral pathogens in aircraft wastewater. Experts worry that these efforts may not be enough.
this CDC’s Traveler Genome Surveillance Program The aircraft’s test wastewater, looking for pathogens that may be on long-distance international flights with passengers. The program works with participating airlines at four major airports: Boston, San Francisco, John Kennedy of New York and Dulles of Washington, D.C.
CBS News received exclusive access to the program, which was launched in September 2021 and has since expanded, thanks to $120 million provided by the federal government.
During the time of unloading the checked baggage, technicians collected wastewater samples from the aircraft toilet. A courier transported the samples to a laboratory run by a private contractor working in Ginkgo Biologics in Boston. The researchers screened the genetic material captured in each water sample for infectious pathogens.
“We need to go find the needle in the haystack,” explains Alex Plocik, director of biosafety genomes at Ginkgo. “In theory, we can study almost anything that could be a potential biosafety threat.”
One day, a technique used to analyze all genetic material in a sample could allow researchers to detect new, previously unknown pathogens.
“These technologies have been advancing… that day came.” But for the moment, they only test seven viruses: Coronavirus diseaseinfluenza A and B, adenovirus, NorovirusRSV and mpox.
Within 48 hours, wastewater tests can remind scientists whether they carry one of these viruses.
Ginkgo shares results with the CDC and mails them to Public dashboard Let scientists around the world know. (The latest data was released on February 17. Neither the CDC nor the White House commented on the program since President Trump took office.)
Tracking flight paths so that CDCs can see where the virus comes from – this information can be particularly valuable when other countries are reluctant to share public health data. Government officials can use this intelligence to shape their public health responses, which may include enhanced surveillance, contact tracing, and the management of vaccines and preventive drugs.
But more than a dozen public health and national security experts consulted by CBS News said there are concerns that the United States is not ready for another major outbreak. Although they are encouraged by technological advances such as aircraft wastewater testing, some worry that the current procedures are too restrictive to reliably detect all incoming pathogens. Currently, although it is estimated that the CDC’s aircraft wastewater testing program is only at four airports, although an estimated 333 international airports in the United States receive passengers.
Last September, CBS News sat down with Dr. David Fitter, director of global immigration health at CDC, to discuss the program and its impact. When asked if the United States is preparing for another pandemic, he paused for more than 10 seconds. “We’ve learned a lot from Covid. We’ve learned that we need to find out early. We’ve learned about the surveillance system. We’ve learned to expand testing capabilities so that we can respond faster. We keep learning and I think we’re ready to move forward,” Fitter said.
The coronavirus traveled to the United States on January 15, 2020, when a 35-year-old American businessman got off a flight from Washington state after visiting Wuhan, China. He didn’t know he was infected, he became First confirmed COVID-19 In the United States. Public health officials were unsure if he was indeed the first case in the country, as passengers or aircraft wastewater was not tested at the time.
“Diseases don’t know the geographical boundaries”
The CDC’s aircraft wastewater testing program is designed to act as a radar for infectious diseases entering the country.
“Diseases don’t know the geographical boundaries,” Fitter explained. “Our job is to stop the disease from entering the United States, and I think this is where we can detect it early and respond faster.”
The CDC is monitoring various outbreaks around the world, including Horse Fort In Tanzania, Ebola virus MPOX in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but only the capability of testing MPOX in aircraft wastewater is currently available.
As a proof of concept, the CDC’s aircraft wastewater testing program successfully detected new covid variants three weeks before it appeared. Municipal wastewater Two weeks before the surge in cases in the doctor’s office. This advance warning provides time for public health officials and health care providers to prepare.
“Attention could mean the difference between life and millions of deaths,” said Admiral Brett Giroir, President of the Trump administration. COVID Testing Tsar At the height of the pandemic in 2020, now is an infectious disease consultant to the Minister of Health and Human Services. Robert Kennedy Jr.
exist Dapa In the years leading up to the common pandemic, Giroir regarded wastewater testing as a surveillance tool to determine whether foreign facilities are likely to produce biological weapons. But he began to realize that there were many potential applications for wastewater testing. He is a leading advocate for the early wastewater testing program for the COVID pandemic.
“If we saw a spike going on, we wouldn’t have waited until 300,000 people were in the emergency room. We knew we were going to raise the flag right away to lift the vaccine to get the antiviral drugs, to get the tests, to get everything started,” Giroir said.
“Patacists can go from a remote village to a major city in less than 36 hours,” U.S. intelligence officers recently declassified.
Report Issued by the National Intelligence Commission last spring It points out that the “global health system” of the common pandemic has reduced their ability to detect and respond to outbreaks and undermined public trust in government, thus reducing people’s willingness to follow public health guidance. The report further warns that while Covid is a century of once a century of pandemic, it is likely to be the last of this generation, noting that “nearly 28% of the chances are at least the pandemic that has occurred in at least a decade, at least the deadly of Covid-19.”
In January, one of President Trump’s first official actions was the release New CIA report It shows that the 199 pandemic is likely caused by a leak in Chinese labs. The world may never know if the pandemic originated Animal to human overflow or a laboratory leak. However, expanding wastewater testing outside municipal treatment plants and aircraft wastewater can help provide answers in the future.
“The lesson I hope everyone can understand is that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a natural or a lab leak… BSL-4 Laboratory Giroir said. “It’s a risk. Wastewater monitoring may be performed in areas where humans are in close contact with domesticated animals or wildlife.” Someone may even think of wastewater monitoring for BSL-4 labs because if a person is infected, they use the toilet in that lab, you may find out who is that missing, and you may know directly about the person that is that missing.
