A new programme to evaluate how wastewater monitoring could be
used to detect a wider range of dangerous pathogens has been
launched today by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Over the coming months, UKHSA laboratories, using £1.3 million of
investment from the UK Integrated Security Fund (ISF), will assess the use of
cutting-edge technologies to improve the UK's ability to detect
and identify the genetic material of various viruses in
wastewater, tracking how the amount of virus detected
changes over time.
This programme builds on the UK's existing wastewater
surveillance for polioand, if successful, could develop the
UK's capability to detect dangerous diseases such as Crimean
Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, a severe disease endemic in Africa, the
Balkans, the Middle East and parts of Asia that has never before
been targeted in wastewater testing.
The programme will also explore the potential of these
technologies to create an early warning system for pathogens such
as Mpox, West Nile Virus, and Lassa, which could in future,
enable the UK to detect and take faster action on outbreaks,
which, as we saw in the COVID-19 pandemic, is vital for an
effective response.
, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said:
Our first responsibility is to keep people safe, and
the Biological Security Strategy and our new
Resilience Action Plan sets out how health security is an
essential part of our national security.
This new cutting-edge wastewater monitoring project has the
potential to be a valuable tool in our armoury - helping us
prepare for and rapidly detect future outbreaks as we learn
lessons from the pandemic.
Professor Steven Riley, UKHSA Chief Data Officer, said:
Wastewater monitoring has the potential to be central to our work
on pathogens that threaten public health. It shows great promise
as a cost-effective way for us to quickly detect a range of
emerging pathogens, which is vital for an effective response.
This is an exciting and important project. The diversity of
biological threats is increasing globally, and it's crucial that
we stay at the cutting edge of new technology to detect them.
The UKHSA wastewater monitoring project for pathogen detection is
one of several biosecurity projects funded through the UK Integrated Security
Fund (UKISF) Biosecurity Portfolio, launched by the Cabinet
Office earlier this year.
