Erik Karlsson from the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge in Cambodia, presented at the Nanopore Community Meeting in Singapore 2023 on “Advances in rapid, accurate, field-forward sequencing to respond to avian influenza virus at the animal-human interface.” Their work focuses on warning and detection systems to detect infectious diseases. Karlsson noted that active surveillance is expensive and can be difficult in remote areas. They explained that avian influenza is being detected in numerous countries. Karlsson described how Cambodia relies on agriculture and markets. Avian influenza surveillance Karlsson and team focus on include air sampling. They have air sampling drones that they deploy in markets. With these samples, the team does pathogen detection and genomics. Karlsson uses a PCR system with Nanopore sequencing to analyze samples for avian influenza in hours. R10 has improved data output, read quality, and read length. Karlsson emphasized that “every second counts between detection and response” and new approaches that provide higher confidence are critical.
