Innovation of Disease Surveillance Systems
Faculty Mentor Information
Dr. Stephanie Hudon, Boise State University
Presentation Date
7-2023
Abstract
There is a growing demand for effective disease surveillance methods to protect the health of human and animal populations. Innovative methods of pathogen surveillance were explored through vacuum dust, captive and wild animal samples, and human samples. Vacuum dust from campus was used to detect trace pathogen levels in indoor environments. Pathogens in humans and animals were found using human saliva samples from symptomatic patients and cecal or fecal samples from wild and captive animals.
Dust, saliva, fecal and cecal samples underwent DNA and RNA isolation followed by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify bacteria, viruses, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers. The samples yielded 393 counts of 71 pathogens in addition to AMRs of interest, with 50% of samples yielding pathogen counts. Our ability to identify pathogens in each of these matrices helps us to identify potential threats to human and animal populations and can aid in predicting and mitigating zoonotic disease transmission.
Innovation of Disease Surveillance Systems
There is a growing demand for effective disease surveillance methods to protect the health of human and animal populations. Innovative methods of pathogen surveillance were explored through vacuum dust, captive and wild animal samples, and human samples. Vacuum dust from campus was used to detect trace pathogen levels in indoor environments. Pathogens in humans and animals were found using human saliva samples from symptomatic patients and cecal or fecal samples from wild and captive animals.
Dust, saliva, fecal and cecal samples underwent DNA and RNA isolation followed by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify bacteria, viruses, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers. The samples yielded 393 counts of 71 pathogens in addition to AMRs of interest, with 50% of samples yielding pathogen counts. Our ability to identify pathogens in each of these matrices helps us to identify potential threats to human and animal populations and can aid in predicting and mitigating zoonotic disease transmission.