Metagenomic techniques: preventing future pandemics
Metagenomic approaches have been key to successful tracing and outbreak management during the COVID-19 pandemic. How can we use this knowledge to better prepare, strategize and prevent future pandemics?
The Icelandic approach has been hailed as pivotal for its contribution to understanding the pandemic, with a heavy focus on scientific methods to test, track and understand progression of the virus. The impact of SARS-CoV-2 was limited as they combined PCR diagnostics with metagenomic sequencing; gaining crucial insights, screening more than half of their population for infection, and ultimately, keeping COVID-19 cases and resultant deaths low.
Is there a place for metagenomic techniques in current and future outbreak management?