Scientists are field testing simpler, faster, and cheaper methods to sample animals for dangerous pathogens—including the ones that could cause the next pandemic.
On a Friday morning in September last year, Erik Karlsson visited the sprawling Orussey market here, where vendors hawked pots and pans, phone cords and radios, hats and dresses—and myriad types of Southeast Asian food. Dozens of orange-colored, whole roasted pigs hung on hooks, crabs the size of two fists filled buckets, and stacked fruit and dried fish formed mountains on tables.
Erik Karlsson at Cambodia’s Pasteur Institute has found deadly influenza viruses in the breath of poultry.Other scientists are tapping advances in nanotechnology, sequencing devices, artificial intelligence, and robotics to improve virus hunting and provide a more timely, deeper understanding of potential threats.
Still, most virus hunters agree a bit of ingenuity and creativity can make identifying threats a lot easier. Here are some of the avenues they are exploring. is giving wild monkeys something to chew on—literally. It is exploring whether scientists can sample the animals’ saliva by giving them treats on ropes.
The “breath biopsy” field is still in its infancy, despite a surge of interest during the pandemic in room air samplers and breathalyzerlike devices. In their attempt to make “breath the new blood” for diagnoses, Davis and an international group of colleagues last year launched the Human Breath Atlas, an effort to conduct large-scale investigations into the rare VOCs people exhale when sick.
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