Disease Outbreaks Need Hurricane-Style Warning Systems
Scientists have invented a new way of testing wastewater for known pathogens. Used correctly, it could help save lives.
Uh oh.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesIt’s hurricane season once again, and once again Floridians were warned to evacuate as a deadly storm bore down on the state. Not everyone follows such warnings, but many do. That saves lives. Now, thanks to advances in biotechnology, we can do even better with disease outbreaks — alerting people when and where a threat is growing long before it can become a pandemic.
“Just like we made our buildings more resistant to hurricanes and earthquakes and fires, we have to do that kind of stuff in our society for infectious diseases,” says epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo, head of the Pandemic Center at Brown University. “They’re just going to keep coming.”