Genomics is transforming modern infectious disease surveillance, expanding our understanding of pathogen evolution, host–pathogen interactions, and antibiotic resistance. In turn, public health professionals are changing the methods they use to research, monitor, and prevent epidemics and pandemics of high-profile infectious diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, Ebola, and more recently, coronavirus.
Traditional methods of assessing infectious agents include antibody-based testing, real-time PCR, pulsed field gel electrophoresis, and multilocus sequence typing. These methods are typically useful only for a small and defined number of organisms, and data analysis can be subjective. In contrast, next-generation sequencing (NGS) provides a universal, hypothesis-free method for infectious disease surveillance that may be used with viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites, and can replace the need for multiple tests.
Next-generation sequencing is uniquely positioned in an infectious disease surveillance and outbreak model. Compare NGS methods and find solutions to detect and characterize SARS-CoV2, track transmission routes, study co-infection, and investigate viral evolution.
Learn MoreA rapid target enrichment sequencing workflow for highly sensitive detection and characterization of respiratory viruses, including COVID-19 strains.
Read Application NoteDetection of respiratory viruses including coronavirus in <24 hours.
Read Application NoteRapid target enrichment workflow for broad detection of respiratory pathogens (including SARS-CoV-2 and flu viruses) and antimicrobial resistance genes.
Read Application NoteThis pandemic has underscored the need for new tools to detect, diagnose, and monitor emerging pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. Together with the Illumina respiratory virus oligo probe (RVOP) enrichment panel, this customized Explify RVOP application from IDbyDNA provides a sample-to-result solution for clinical metagenomics.
View WebinarThe Explify Platform is a fully supported NGS-based, clinical metagenomics technology suite for clinical laboratories. Watch this video for a virtual tour to better understand how the Explify Platform streamlines processes, supports labs, improves results, and much, much more.
Watch VideoUnderstanding host genetic differences and individual responses to the SARS-CoV-2 virus increases understanding of disease susceptibiliity and severity. Read more about the methods for host risk & immune response studies.
Learn MoreThe partnership aims to accelerate and improve testing for emerging public health threats like SARS-Cov-2.
Read MoreNGS technology enabled infectious disease experts to identify and characterize the genome of the novel coronavirus in China.
Read ReviewChief Medical Officer, Phil Febbo, MD, discusses how public officials follow the path of the epidemic and what that means for tracking the spread of coronavirus mutations.
Read MoreThis summary highlights recent peer-reviewed publications in which researchers used NGS to analyze viral populations, microbial pathogenesis, zoonotic reservoirs, the gut microbiome, and more.
Read ReviewGenomic analysis with NGS provides high-resolution information to distinguish pathogen strains that differ by as little as one single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). It also allows identification of both novel and known infectious agents.
Illumina NGS technology delivers rapid results and high-quality data that public health professionals are utilizing to identify, track, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
This NGS workflow enables culture-free detection of viral targets without prior knowledge, even for mutagenic regions.
Illumina NGS offers a comprehensive picture of viruses, host interactions, and phages specific to microbes.
Learn how researchers at the Jiangsu CDC use Illumina NGS for influenza surveillance.
NGS was used to reconstruct outbreaks of tuberculosis in British Columbia, Canada.
Learn about detection of drug resistance variants and tracking of viral haplotypes.
Dr Peyro-Saint-Paul explains how the CE-IVD marked iDTECT™ Blood Test can be used to detect pathogens in blood samples.
Accurate identification of uropathogens limits the development of UTIs and spread of antimicrobial resistance.