La próxima pandemia ya está de camino

The coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, with an estimated 33 million people infected and nearly one million killed. We are about to surf the second wave of COVID-19, and the outlook for the future does not look promising.

Since the new disease was confirmed, scientists and experts have not stopped until they know how the virus works and what are the effects that have disrupted the lives of citizens. That is why the scientist from Cambridge University, Sally Davies, is trying to find out and anticipate future diseases that could strike globally again, as COVID-19 has already done.

Professor Davies has published an article in The Guardian newspaper that is very worrying. She says the next pandemic is "on its way". "My fellow scientists estimate that we will face a pandemic or health emergency at least once every five years from now. The reality could be much worse," he says. And he reflects on the coronavirus "which should help us prepare.

In addition, the also former medical director of the United Kingdom wanted to encourage all citizens and scientific communities to work with the same goal. To this end, she calls on different governments to collaborate so that there are no "isolated thoughts". "We must collaborate regardless of the nationalities of those affected or the experts who are advancing in the research work.

One of the solutions offered by Sally Davies is that of "innovative" collaborations between all societies and the scientific and medical sectors. Thus, it offers the possibility of creating a coalition between companies from different countries and health experts who are dedicated to working on the same objective: the eradication of diseases and pandemics such as the coronavirus. "The aim is to generate new ways to better predict and prevent outbreaks," the British newspaper article points out.

"One of the ways to get ahead of the spread of diseases and pandemics is the analysis and continuous monitoring of wastewater from all areas," explains the scientist, who explains that these analyses would be able to detect an outbreak or the start of a new disease before it reaches a global spread.

Me gustaría saber que posibilidad hay de pillar un virus, por ejemplo, en unas muestras de aguas residuales de toda una ciudad a no ser que haya un numero grande de personas contagiadas... no tengo ni idea del tema, pero es como buscar una aguja microscópica en medio de un torrente continuo de agua de todo tipo, lavabos, duchas, fregaderos, WCs....

#4 tengo conocidos que trabajan en esa función. No lo hacen al azar, ni mucho menos.

Con el covid19 por ejemplo, cuando sanidad manda los datos de infectados o posibles infecciones los meten en una base de datos donde se filtra el barrio con más posibilidades de infectados. Se manda una notificación a la compañía de aguas que junto a varios científicos van a la boca residual del barrio al que pertenece el supuesto foco. Ahí toman muestras y si da positivo se toman muestras más específicas de diferentes bocas de desagüe hasta filtrar por la que sale la cantidad más grande del virus.

Lo único que esto se ha empezado hacer tras estar en plena pandemia. Y se encontraron aguas residuales de marzo y Agosto del año pasado con pequeñas cantidades del virus.