Working to Expand the CDC Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance Program to Test for More than 30 Pathogens

At Ginkgo, we are leading the evolution of biosecurity. That’s why we are thrilled to announce that along with our partners, XpresCheck, we are expanding our work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program (TGS) to monitor more than 30 new viruses, bacteria, and antimicrobial resistance targets—including several seasonal respiratory pathogens, such as influenza A and B, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2. 

TGS is a flexible, multimodal platform that consists of three complementary approaches of sample collection from arriving international travelers at U.S. airports, including voluntary nasal swabbing, aircraft wastewater, and airport wastewater sampling to enhance early detection of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens, and fills gaps in global surveillance.

The program expansion will launch at four of the program’s seven major international airports (New York, JFK, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington DC, Dulles). 

“The expansion of the Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program to flu, RSV, and other pathogens is essential as we head into fall respiratory season. The TGS program, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, acted as an early warning system to detect new and rare variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and will do the same for other respiratory viruses going forward,” said Dr. Cindy Friedman, chief of CDC’s Travelers’ Health Branch, in a statement.

The TGS program has proven to be an agile and beneficial asset to public health officials in the United States—quickly adapting to an evolving pandemic in real time since it launched in 2021. As of October 2023, TGS has enlisted over 370,000 travelers and maintains an ongoing enrollment of around 6,000 volunteer travelers weekly. The program covers travelers from all World Health Organization regions and more than 135 countries. Since its inception, the program has sequenced more than 14,000 samples and made the genomic data available on several public health platforms to enable further analysis. The expansion will enhance the program’s ability to monitor and change focus as needed to identify priority pathogens. The TGS program can augment global surveillance systems, especially as testing and sequencing information become limited as Covid-19 monitoring wanes.

“By building sustainable, scalable infrastructure that is capable of detecting biological threats beyond SARS-CoV-2, the TGS program is a global leader in the evolution of biosecurity,” said Matt McKnight, General Manager of Ginkgo Biosecurity. “Persistent monitoring can give officials an early warning by offering a view into how pathogens spread across the globe.”

TGS was among the first to detect many new SARS-CoV-2 variants entering the United States up to six weeks before they were reported elsewhere, including Omicron BA2, BA3, XBB, and BA2.86 – demonstrating the program’s valuable ability to detect new variants early.

“With air travel exceeding pre-pandemic levels and the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and other viruses, it is crucial that we continue to test,” said XpresCheck CEO Ezra Ernst. “The data that we collect provides crucial insights for public health officials to inform how best to protect our nation from the threat of evolving viruses. We thank the volunteers who elect to swab their noses in service to our national security and public health.”

The TGS Program In the News

TIME: Here’s How the CDC Will Track Viruses Over the Holiday Travel Season

“We’re excited about establishing a global baseline dataset for these viruses. The more we make public, the more we can contribute to better general knowledge about these pathogens.”

CNN: CDC to expand disease surveillance at four major US airports to include flu, RSV

“The dream is that you’re running similar programs across the world in many, many places, so you get much earlier detection than if somebody shows up at a hospital of something emerging,” McKnight said. “The idea would be, how do you prevent a pandemic? You catch something really early, which allows you to put it into a vaccine manufacturing process much faster. Today we don’t have as much of that early warning as we want. And these are the first stages of it.”

The Hill CDC adding flu, RSV surveillance at major US airports

“By building sustainable, scalable infrastructure that is capable of detecting biological threats beyond SARS-CoV-2, the TGS program is a global leader in the evolution of biosecurity,” said Matt McKnight, General Manager of Ginkgo Biosecurity. “Persistent monitoring can give officials an early warning by offering a view into how pathogens spread across the globe.”