In the past two decades, several important zoonotic pathogens have emerged and circulated globally, including highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAI) and Zika virus (ZIKV). A novel coronavirus, now named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged last December 2019 in Wuhan, China that subsequently spread to the rest of the world and caused a pandemic of severe pneumonia, now called coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As of 29 September 2020, more than 33 million cases worldwide were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), with more than 100 million deaths. The factors contributing to its emergence and circulation are complicated and multi-factorial, involving the interface between ecology and human behaviors, such as farming, transportation, or wildlife wet market, which coupled with climate change and landscape fragmentation. Therefore, it also requires multiple aspects of technologies for the pandemic preparedness currently and in the future. As WHO urges all countries to scale up the testing capacity, the global efforts to develop a vaccine are racing against the clock. From the biochemistry and molecular biology point of view, the ideal diagnostic test should follow ASSURE criteria, including accurate, sensitive, specific, rapid, economically affordable, and easy to scale up. Similar concepts, such as efficacy, deliverability, and economical-affordability, can be applied to vaccine development, which also needs to accommodate low and middle-income countries. Three basic principles for diagnostic kit and vaccine/treatment development can be applied for the preparedness of pandemic: (1) priority-pathogen based: each country need to prioritize the pathogens based on the disease burden; (2) platform development: various molecular approaches aim to reduce the time of diagnosis and easily implemented in a clinic for point-of-care use. These approaches should be standardized as the platform for the development of diagnostic kits and vaccines based on the priority-pathogen evaluated; (3) prototype-pathogen approach: Similar approach for emerging pathogens from the same family of the pathogen can be directly applied for the development of diagnostic kit and vaccine. In summary, continuously identify and prioritize the priority pathogen, procurement of biochemical/ molecular technologies and implementation of evidence-informed health delivery systems will enhance our capability for pandemic preparedness.
ISSN 2719-1990 (Print)
Philippine E-Journals
