Rapid pathogen detection for safer communities

Public health is crucial to ensuring effective safety measures across an informed population. The mission of the public health field is to protect and improve our health by preventing disease and detecting and responding to infectious outbreaks. Core to public health efforts are monitoring health status, evaluating potential health threats and developing policies that support optimal health and well-being. Together these elements can help shorten outbreak duration and enable identification of causative agent(s) so that appropriate corrective measures can be designed and implemented.

qPCR-based molecular methods allow multiple pathogens to be genomically profiled at the same time. Continued investment in innovative approaches to pathogen detection that are agnostic in nature, readily available, high quality, easy to implement and culture independent will further lead to improved testing strategies needed to effectively monitor and manage the spread of active and emerging diseases.