Pedro Nascimento de Lima, PhD

Researcher at RAND Corporation and Professor at RAND School of Public Policy

Strategies to Improve Detection of Novel Pandemic Pathogens: Cost Versus Detection Performance for Promising Pathogen-Agnostic Detection Workflows

Alex Demarsh; Pedro Nascimento de Lima; Cassidy Nelson; Javier Rojas Aguilera; Nathan Duarte; Sella Nevo; Henry H. Willis

Abstract

This RAND analysis compares three pathogen‑agnostic biosurveillance strategies—syndromic, wearable, and environmental—using modeling to assess cost versus detection performance. Environmental sampling detected outbreaks fastest, followed by wearable sensors, although both lost advantage with highly transmissible or symptomatic diseases. Limited pilot deployments could refine real-world costs and validate early-warning performance.

Publication Impact Statistics

Research Streams

Pandemic Preparedness & Response Modeling & Simulation

Topics

pandemic preparedness pathogen detection biosurveillance environmental surveillance wearable sensors syndromic surveillance outbreak detection public health surveillance early warning systems infectious disease pandemic response public health