Viral pandemics such as COVID-19 are a rapidly emerging threat to global security and economic stability. Unlike bacterial infections which have a wide range of developed antibiotic therapies, new viral infections have very few pre-existing treatments. The World Health Organization has correspondingly noted a public health emergency and an urgent need for rapid diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics to detect, prevent and contain a viral outbreak. The success of these remediation efforts will depend largely upon early detection, proactive and preventive measures, attempting to contain the rate of viral growth until customized treatments can be developed and made available.

The sobering reality is that modern medicine has limited treatment options to deal with new viral infections, instead relying on prevention and containment using quarantines and vaccination to keep the populous safe. Pandemics are large-scale outbreaks of infectious disease that can greatly increase morbidity and mortality over a wide geographic area and cause significant economic, social, and political disruption. The occurrence and severity of viral outbreaks has only increased over the past century as the world has become more interconnected with global travel, increased population density because of urbanization, and changes in land use.

Now more than ever the reality of an interconnected world means there is a desperate need to identify and quickly stem the tide of emerging outbreaks in order to prevent worldwide pandemics. Fast and proactive intervention and investment into medical diagnostics is crucial for early detection and containment of new viruses to preserve the world economy