Advanced Molecular Detection for Improving Public’s Health

Advances in science and technology aimed at identifying the genetic makeup of microorganisms will build CDC’s capacity to prevent illness and save lives. CDC estimates that 1 in 6 Americans—or 48 million people—get sick from contaminated food each year—costing the United States $77 billion per year in health care treatment, workplace, and other economic losses. Additionally, in the United States, the number of outbreaks involving drug-resistant microbes is on the rise. Although they are still highly valuable, CDC’s current methods are limiting our ability for better and more rapid detection of these microbes.

This session of Grand Rounds explored opportunities for CDC to leverage key aspects of Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD), bioinformatics and enhanced molecular tools, such as whole genome sequence, to improve our ability to diagnose/identify infectious diseases, investigate and control outbreaks, understand transmission patterns, develop and target vaccines, and determine antimicrobial resistance—all with increased timeliness, accuracy and decreased costs.