Prior to the advent of molecular techniques, shoe leather epidemiology was the mainstay of infectious disease surveillance. Although monitoring of clinical, demographic, and behavioral risk factors for disease will continue to be critical for elimination efforts, molecular (and more recently) genomic surveillance can complement traditional epidemiological approaches by leveraging information derived from host, pathogen, or vector genomes. For example, genomic data can be used to understand the impact of elimination programs, the emergence of resistance to therapeutics or vaccines, or the sources and routes of pathogen transmission. As the cost of sequencing/genotyping technologies decreases, genomic data can be generated at epidemiological scales in near real-time, providing a cost-effective means for evidence-based decision-making in the context of population-level disease elimination programs.
In order for genomic data to be useful in the planning and implementation of disease surveillance and intervention strategies, the inferences derived from these data need to be accessible to public health professionals in national or regional disease control programs. Such integration will require infrastructure and capacity building to generate and analyze data in-country and the development of translational tools that can be easily utilized by individuals with a variety of expertise.
For this Research Topic, we invite both research and review articles discussing the role of genomic surveillance in the control and elimination of infectious diseases. Examples include, but are not limited to, articles describing potential use cases for genomic data, strategies or tools to operationalize genomic inferences or specific applications of genomic data in the tracking and control of a given infectious disease.
Prior to the advent of molecular techniques, shoe leather epidemiology was the mainstay of infectious disease surveillance. Although monitoring of clinical, demographic, and behavioral risk factors for disease will continue to be critical for elimination efforts, molecular (and more recently) genomic surveillance can complement traditional epidemiological approaches by leveraging information derived from host, pathogen, or vector genomes. For example, genomic data can be used to understand the impact of elimination programs, the emergence of resistance to therapeutics or vaccines, or the sources and routes of pathogen transmission. As the cost of sequencing/genotyping technologies decreases, genomic data can be generated at epidemiological scales in near real-time, providing a cost-effective means for evidence-based decision-making in the context of population-level disease elimination programs.
In order for genomic data to be useful in the planning and implementation of disease surveillance and intervention strategies, the inferences derived from these data need to be accessible to public health professionals in national or regional disease control programs. Such integration will require infrastructure and capacity building to generate and analyze data in-country and the development of translational tools that can be easily utilized by individuals with a variety of expertise.
For this Research Topic, we invite both research and review articles discussing the role of genomic surveillance in the control and elimination of infectious diseases. Examples include, but are not limited to, articles describing potential use cases for genomic data, strategies or tools to operationalize genomic inferences or specific applications of genomic data in the tracking and control of a given infectious disease.