Airplane lavatories deliver new hope for the CDC’s variant hunt

The cramped, damp and poorly lit airplane toilet is among the scourges of air travel, a source of dread for young and old alike. But the deafening “swoosh” of the airplane lavatory may have finally found a higher calling: helping government scientists detect deadly viruses entering the United States. As Covid-19 cases explode in China and new viral threats loom, the Biden administration is ramping up surveillance of biological samples from international passengers arriving at U.S. airports to scan for new virus variants and other hazards to Americans’ health. Late last month, amid concerns over new variants expected to emerge from China’s massive Covid outbreak, the Biden administration expanded a program started in late 2021 to collect voluntary nasal swabs from arriving passengers to determine what Covid strains are entering the country. It set up new operations at Seattle-Tacoma International in December and LAX in early January to target more flights carrying passengers coming from China, and went from monitoring around 55 flights from Asia each day to 260. At the same time, after a successful test run at New York’s JFK Airport, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pursuing talks with airlines and port authorities to start collecting samples from long-haul international flights’ wastewater after they land. The small but growing Traveler Genomic Surveillance program, run by the CDC with a biotech firm and a company that collects samples, is seen by administration officials and public health experts as part of a revolution in biosafety infrastructure — and a critical plank of national security in the post-pandemic era. As it expands geographically and sets its sights on new pathogens, it could function as an early warning system for where and when dangerous viruses and bacteria, natural or otherwise, enter the country.<br/>