LANL scientists: Research needed to prepare for future outbreaks

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis is a reminder of the need for continued investment in research related to disease outbreaks to prepare the scientific community for the next pandemic, according to an April 11 Scientific American editorial by two biomedical scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"While much of the general public is seeing for the first time the risks and disruption caused by a novel contagious disease, those of us who work in this field see what we’ve known for a long time: disease outbreaks are not an “if” scenario, but a “when”—and the more prepared we are, the better," wrote Kristen Taylor-McCabe and Alina Deshpande, both scientists in the Biosecurity and Public Health Group at LANL.

That preparation requires a continued investment in a broad range of scientific and technological research, the authors wrote.

Examples of research that could help better understand disease outbreaks include:

Models that predict how different geographical areas will be impacted, including effects of climate change

Epidemiological models based on historical outbreak data to provide context for future crises

Real-time models that use incoming data—including social media data—to track the disease and forecast its spread

Improving biological assays used to detect and diagnose infectious diseases

Development of vaccines to prevent future outbreaks

"Unfortunately, disease outbreaks will continue," Taylor-McCabe and Deshpande wrote. "We must continue to invest in the scientific and technological research that enables these tools, so we can respond quickly and provide decision makers with critical information to keep the population safe."

Read the full editorial: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/disease-outbreaks-happ...