Preventing pathogen release
How can the development and release of dangerous pathogens be prevented?
This profile is tailored towards students studying biological sciences, psychology and law, however we expect there to be valuable open research questions that could be pursued by students in other disciplines.
Why is this a pressing problem?
Pandemic outbreaks have caused enormous harm and loss of life. ‘Zoonotic spillover’ – where a disease passes from a non-human animal to a human – is the most common cause of infectious disease outbreaks that could become pandemics. However, the possibility of human activity directly causing a pandemic, whether intentionally or accidentally, is also a serious concern. There have been many cases of dangerous viruses escaping from labs, and the number of laboratories working with pathogens that could cause serious pandemics is quickly increasing.
Outbreaks caused by engineered pathogens are particularly concerning if the pathogens have been altered in ways that make them more deadly, contagious or resistant to existing interventions. These are known as enhanced potential pandemic pathogens (ePPP). This kind of research – which involves scientists developing technologies that could be misused to cause harm, or could cause harm accidentally – is known as dual-use research.
Enhanced potential pandemic pathogens not only pose a risk if an accident results in them escaping the laboratory. As with dual-use research more broadly, the development of enhanced potential pandemic pathogens can also lead to ‘information hazards’ – the existence of information that others could use to do harm. Advances in dual-use technologies are also lowering the cost of, and level of expertise needed, to create dangerous pathogens. The possibility of bad actors deliberately releasing dangerous pathogens in an act of bioterrorism is therefore also becoming a greater concern. For all these reasons, the pool of people who could deliberately or inadvertently release pathogens that could cause the next pandemic is increasing.
Strategies for decreasing the chance of an anthropogenic pandemic occurring include improving laboratory safety procedures to decrease the chance of accidents, improving norms and regulations to decrease the threat posed by dual-use research, and creating safety alternatives to dual-use technologies.
Watch the talk below to see Dr Megan Palmer discuss the importance of improved biosafety and biosecurity.
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Contributors: This profile was last updated 9/01/2023. Thanks to Koen Schoenmakers and Elika Somani for helpful feedback. All mistakes remain our own. Learn more about how we create our profiles.
