Science in the time of a pandemic: The Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) announced that it is supporting four projects that aim to combat the spread of COVID-19.
According to DOST-PCHRD, these projects will “aid in the monitoring and management of the said infection.”
Test kits
The first project—GenAmplifyTM CoronaVirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) rRT-PCR Detection Kit—was developed by Dr. Raul Destura and his team from the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH).
This diagnostic kit seeks to detect the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, also called COVID-19) “with high specificity and efficiency through a one-step multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) platform.” This locally-developed kit, the DOST-PCHRD said in its press statement, “is expected to cost ₱1,320 per test, which is significantly cheaper than its foreign counterparts at ₱8,500 per test.”
The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Certificate of Exemption for the test kit being developed locally and “provided the go signal for field testing,” the DOST-PCHRD announced. “Manila HealthTek Inc., the first spin-off company from the University of the Philippines, will mass produce and distribute the kits to aid in the early diagnosis of COVID-19.”
Surveillance technology
The DOST-PCHRD also said it is providing support for the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler (FASSSTER) for Early Detection of Diseases.
This project is being undertaken by DOST-PCHRD in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU).
The FASSSTER application was developed, the science agency said, for “visualizing the spread of diseases, using data from the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (PIDSR) system, Electronic Medical Records, and SMS-based reports of primary care facilities.”
FASSSTER is already used to create predictive models and to visualize possible scenarios of outbreaks of dengue, typhoid fever, and the measles at specified time periods. The research team DOST-PCHRD is supporting, the agency said, “will enhance the system for use in COVID-19 surveillance and response, as it will help support planning and decision-making of the DOH, LGUs, and healthcare facilities.”
Research
The Clinical Characteristics and Transmission Patterns of COVID-19 in Confirmed Cases and their Contacts in the Philippines is a study that DOST-PCHRD said will be implemented by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
It aims “to determine the transmission patterns of COVID-19 to help prevent its further spread and support the DOH in crafting policies for the containment and prevention of COVID-19.”
The science council is also supporting the research project “In-vitro Study on the Efficacy of Lauric Acid and its Derivatives against SARS-CoV-2” in partnership with ADMU and the Duke-National University of Singapore (Duke-NUS).
This study seeks “to test whether certain coconut oil components can diminish or prevent the infectivity of SARS-CoV2, the causative virus of COVID-19,” according to the science council. “The project will focus first on the determination of the anti-viral properties of the compounds and results will be used for further studies.”
Despite its relatively low mortality rate compared to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), COVID-19 has affected close to 200,000 people globally, including in the Philippines.
Source: http://philippinesgraphic.net/dost-provides-support-for-projects-vs-covid-19/
