Abstract
Diagnostic microbial isolates of bio-safety levels 3 and 4 are difficult to handle in medical field camps under military deployment settings. International transport of such isolates is challenging due to restrictions by the International Air Transport Association. An alternative option might be inactivation and sequencing of the pathogen at the deployment site with subsequent sequence-based revitalization in well-equipped laboratories in the home country for further scientific assessment.A literature review was written based on a PubMed search.First described for poliovirus in 2002, de novo synthesis of pathogens based on their sequence information has become a well-established procedure in science. Successful syntheses have been demonstrated for both viruses and prokaryotes. However, the technology is not yet available for routine diagnostic purposes.Due to the potential utility of diagnostic sequencing and sequence-based de novo synthesis of pathogens, it seems worthwhile to establish the technology for diagnostic purposes over the intermediate term. This is particularly true for resource-restricted deployment settings, where safe handling of harmful pathogens cannot always be guaranteed.
Highlights
During military deployment, close proximity of individuals within field camps, restricted hygiene options during more robust military operations, new environments and interactions between people and animals on site can lead to contagion with an infectious disease followed by an outbreak in the camp [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
This pattern has been observed in a number of military situations as demonstrated by the following examples: an outbreak of hookworm infection during military operations in Grenada (1), an outbreak of malaria in US Marines serving in Somalia (2), an outbreak of Norwalk-like virus (NLV) in US ground troops deployed to Iraq in 1991 (3) and an outbreak of influenza virus in camps during World War I that killed approximately 100,000 troops (4)
In a military deployment setting, a newly isolated strain from a deployment site can be inactivated to be of no more harm for medical laboratory scientists who have to handle it under restricted deployment conditions
Summary
Close proximity of individuals within field camps, restricted hygiene options during more robust military operations, new environments and interactions between people and animals on site can lead to contagion with an infectious disease followed by an outbreak in the camp [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Revitalized pathogens In 2002, replicative infectious polioviruses were artificially created in a cell-free in vitro environment based solely on synthetic poliovirus cDNA molecules, a milestone in medical science This was the first demonstration of the synthesis of an infectious agent using in vitro biochemical means to follow a written sequence. In addition to whole pathogen genomes, it is possible to clone single genes in bacterial vectors, allowing for the design of reassortant strains using reverse genetics methods. Synthetic biology – a tool for the future The underlying up-to-date options available for synthetic biology have recently been extensively reviewed [46] These options comprise techniques of whole genome assembly, which is usually performed in yeast cells [47], and activation of artificially designed genomes [44]. The approaches taken by synthetic biologists target design and modification of new organisms [46], such highly ambitious goals are unnecessary for diagnostic microbiology in the military deployment setting
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