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Pathogens
Special Issues
Leveraging Technological Advancement for Pandemic Preparedness
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Leveraging Technological Advancement for Pandemic Preparedness

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 January 2026 | Viewed by 3365

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Kai Sen Tan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore
Interests: virology; respiratory diseases; infectious diseases
Dr. Chee Keng MOK

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore
Interests: emerging and re-emerging viruses; epidemiology surveillance; antiviral mechanism; viral pathogenesis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yaw Shin Ooi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore
Interests: host-virus interactions; functional genomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chee Wah Tan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: ARS-CoV-2; virus-host interaction; viruses; coronaviruses; orthoreoviruses
Dr. Mookkan Prabakaran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: broadly protective vaccines; therapeutics against infectious human and animal viral diseases; molecular pathogenesis of emerging and zoonotic infectious viruses including influenza A viruses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dahai Luo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Infection and Immunity, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: RNA viruses; viral-host dynamics; antiviral drug
Dr. Poying Chia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: dengue and emerging infectious diseases; antimicrobial resistance; general infectious diseases; HIV medicine

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has again emphasized the importance of research on viral infectious diseases for an effective pandemic preparedness strategy to minimize the impact of viral disease outbreaks.  As a global effort to improve our ability to manage such events, we invite you to submit to this Special Issue on “Leveraging technological advancement for pandemic preparedness”. The Special Issue will focus on papers incorporating technological innovations into managing medically important viral infectious diseases. Many recent technologies have been incorporated into the research of managing the pandemic. Innovations in artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, automation, genetic engineering, and biotechnology have been applied to rapidly understand the pathogenesis, therapeutics, surveillance, and other aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which includes the rapid development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine using the RNA vaccine technology. Applying such innovations to other viral infectious diseases is vital in enhancing pandemic preparedness levels internationally to manage future outbreaks of known and unknown viruses. Papers describing any incorporation of technological innovation leading to understanding, including, but not limited to, viral pathogenesis, vaccination, treatment, and public health surveillance, are welcome.

Dr. Kai Sen Tan
Dr. Chee Keng MOK
Dr. Yaw Shin Ooi
Dr. Chee Wah Tan
Dr. Mookkan Prabakaran
Dr. Dahai Luo
Dr. Poying Chia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pandemic preparedness
  • disease X
  • technological platforms
  • treatment and prevention
  • viral infectious diseases

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1440 KB  
Article
Association Between Pre-Existing Conditions and COVID-19 Hospitalization, Intensive Care Services, and Mortality: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of an International Global Health Data Repository
by Basant M. S. Elsayed, Lina Altarawneh, Habib Hassan Farooqui, Muhammad Naseem Khan, Giridhara Rathnaiah Babu, Suhail A. R. Doi and Tawanda Chivese
Pathogens 2025, 14(9), 917; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14090917 - 11 Sep 2025
Viewed by 780
Abstract
Background: The use of globally shared individual-level data in answering epidemiological questions during health emergencies of international concern is still debatable. In this study, we investigated the association between pre-existing conditions and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 using data from a global data sharing [...] Read more.
Background: The use of globally shared individual-level data in answering epidemiological questions during health emergencies of international concern is still debatable. In this study, we investigated the association between pre-existing conditions and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 using data from a global data sharing repository. Methods: We used data of all cases recorded in the Global Health Data repository up to the 10th of March 2021 to carry out a cross-sectional analysis of associations between cardiovascular diseases (CVD), hypertension, diabetes, obesity, lung diseases, and kidney disease and hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality due to COVID-19. The Global Health repository reported data from 137 countries, but only Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba reported more than 10 COVID-19 cases in participants with preexisting conditions. We used multivariable logistic regression to compute adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of the three outcomes for each pre-existing condition in ten-year age groups from 0 to 9 years and up to 110–120 years. Findings: As of March 10, the Global Health repository contained 25,900,000 records of confirmed cases of COVID-19, of which 2,900,000 cases from Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba had recorded data on pre-existing conditions. The overall aOR of ICU admission for each pre-existing condition were; CVD (aOR 2.1, 95%CI 1.8–2.4), hypertension (aOR 1.3, 95%CI 1.2–1.4), diabetes (OR 1.7, 95%CI 1.5–1.8), obesity (OR 2.2, 95%%CI 2.1–2.4), kidney disease (OR 1.4, 95%CI 1.2–1.7) and lung disease (aOR 1.1, 95%CI 0.9–1.3). Overall aORs of mortality for each pre-existing condition were: CVD (aOR 1.7, 95%CI 1.6–1.7), hypertension (aOR 1.3, 95%CI 1.3–1.4), diabetes (aOR 2.0, 95%CI 1.9–2.0), obesity (aOR 1.9, 95%CI 1.8–2.0), kidney disease (aOR 2.7, 95%CI 2.6–2.9), and lung disease (aOR 1.6, 95%CI 1.5–1.7). The odds of each adverse outcome were considerably larger in children and young adults with these preexisting conditions than for adults, especially for kidney disease, CVD, and diabetes. Conclusion: This analysis of a global health repository confirms associations between pre-existing diseases and clinical outcomes of COVID-19, and the odds of these outcomes were especially elevated in children and young adults with these preexisting conditions. This study shows that global data sharing can unlock answers to many epidemiological questions efficiently especially during the early stages of global health emergencies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Leveraging Technological Advancement for Pandemic Preparedness)
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Review

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18 pages, 2769 KB  
Review
Advancing Laboratory Diagnostics for Future Pandemics: Challenges and Innovations
by Lechuang Chen and Qing H. Meng
Pathogens 2025, 14(11), 1135; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens14111135 - 9 Nov 2025
Viewed by 1139
Abstract
Since the beginning of the 21st century, major epidemics and pandemics such as SARS, H1N1pdm09, Ebola, and COVID-19 have repeatedly challenged global systems of disease diagnostics and control. These crises exposed the weaknesses of traditional diagnostic models, including long turnaround times, uneven resource [...] Read more.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, major epidemics and pandemics such as SARS, H1N1pdm09, Ebola, and COVID-19 have repeatedly challenged global systems of disease diagnostics and control. These crises exposed the weaknesses of traditional diagnostic models, including long turnaround times, uneven resource distribution, and supply chain bottlenecks. As a result, there is an urgent need for more advanced diagnostic technologies and integrated diagnostics strategies. Our review summarizes key lessons learned from four recent major outbreaks and highlights advances in diagnostic technologies. Among these, molecular techniques such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), and droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) have demonstrated significant advantages and are increasingly becoming core components of the detection framework. Antigen testing plays a critical role in rapid screening, particularly in settings such as schools, workplaces, and communities. Serological assays provide unique value for retrospective outbreak analysis and assessing population immunity. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has become a powerful tool for identifying novel pathogens and monitoring viral mutations. Furthermore, point-of-care testing (POCT), enhanced by miniaturization, biosensing, and artificial intelligence (AI), has extended diagnostic capacity to the front lines of epidemic control. In summary, the future of epidemic and pandemic response will not depend on a single technology, but rather on a multi-layered and complementary system. By combining laboratory diagnostics, distributed screening, and real-time monitoring, this system will form a global diagnostic network capable of rapid response, ensuring preparedness for the next global health crisis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Leveraging Technological Advancement for Pandemic Preparedness)
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