A new viral surveillance system in West Africa is showing the world how to prevent the next pandemic

“Pardis and Christian have created an environment where we can collaborate closely with our colleagues in West Africa, which gives us a deep understanding of what the current system looks like and where tools can fill in the gaps,” said Colby Wilkason, Broad’s program manager for Sentinel. “This environment has enabled us to integrate detection and surveillance innovations into the public health system and strengthen local capacity in areas most needed.” 

In March 2020, just one month after Happi and Sabeti officially launched Sentinel, WHO declared COVID-19 an international pandemic. Sooner than planned, Sentinel would be put to the test.

In February of 2020, when it was clear that COVID-19 was spreading around the world, Sentinel teams began distributing SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests to hospitals in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. And in early March, Happi’s lab sequenced the first SARS-CoV-2 genome in Africa and made the data publicly available. 

CARMEN and SHINE, which the Sabeti lab had originally designed to detect viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola in West African countries, suddenly had a new purpose: detecting SARS-CoV-2. The Sentinel team had intended to spend their first two or three years developing tools and conducting research, but it was clear communities needed tests immediately. Sabeti’s lab quickly pivoted and, within months, had adapted CARMEN and SHINE to detect SARS-CoV-2, which were soon deployed in Nigeria.