An initiative to strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics like COVID-19 has been launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The project, called ZODIAC, builds on the IAEA’s experience in assisting countries in the use of nuclear and nuclear-derived techniques for the rapid detection of pathogens that cause transboundary animal diseases, including ones that spread to humans.
Launched yesterday by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, the initiative aims to establish a global network to help national laboratories in monitoring, surveillance, early detection and control of animal and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, avian influenza and Zika. Such diseases kill around 2.7 million people every year, according to the IAEA.
The Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action (ZODIAC) project is based on the technical, scientific and laboratory capacity of the IAEA and its partners, and the Agency’s mechanisms to quickly deliver equipment and know-how to countries. Nuclear-derived techniques, such as tests using real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), are important tools in the detection and characterisation of viruses. The IAEA is providing emergency assistance to some 120 countries in the use of such tests to rapidly detect COVID-19. The aim of the new project is to make the world better prepared for future outbreaks of diseases.
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