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Pandemic Preparedness Capabilities

Utilising large scale bio monitoring of nursing home residents for rapid detection of emerging respiratory infections and immunity


PI(s)/Head responsible for the resource:

Mattias Forsell

Host organisation(s):

Umeå University

Resource description:

The PLP2 program “Preparedness by early detection of infections in the elderly” has led to the establishment of a platform where immune responses to vaccination and infections at Swedish nursing homes can be coupled and combined with national registry data of vaccinations, infections, comorbidities and medication. We have provided proof-of-concept that the platform can be utilised to produce information of high national and international interest for the development of prophylactic strategies against COVID-19 infections (Vikström et al, Lancet Regional Health-Europe, 2023 and Blom et al, Lancet Infectious Diseases 2023). Here, we will expand on these studies to demonstrate the versatility of the platform for pandemic preparedness against other respiratory infections of clinical relevance, and for the detection of impending outbreaks in the nursing home population. Hence, we aim to (1) transition from measuring immunity COVID-19 vaccines to addition respiratory infectious agents or vaccines of clinical interest (i.e. RSV, Influenza, Metapneumovirus, etc), (2) to monitoring infectious agents that are circulating in the air of nursing homes and (3) to effectivise sampling and processing strategies of capillary blood samples. The end goals of this proposal is to provide further proof-of-concept of the dynamic potential of the platform for its general use (i.e. looking at any infectious agent/vaccine of interest, not only COVID-19), to demonstrate the potential of the platform to act as an “early warning system” for spread of known and emerging infectious agents within an environment where susceptible individuals live, and to enhance processing and analysis of capillary samples.

Contact information:

Mattias Forsell
Associate Professor
Email: mattias.forsell@umu.se