Genomic Epidemiology for Estimating Pathogen Burden in a Population.

The role of genomics in outbreak response and pathogen surveillance has expanded and ushered in the age of pathogen intelligence. Genomic surveillance enables detection and monitoring of novel pathogens; case clusters; and markers of virulence, antimicrobial resistance, and immune escape. We can leverage pathogen genomic diversity to estimate total pathogen burden in populations and environments, which was previously challenging because of unreliable data. Pathogen genomics might allow pathogen burdens to be estimated by sequencing even a small percentage of cases. Deeper genomic epidemiology analyses require multidisciplinary collaboration to ensure accurate and actionable real-time pathogen intelligence.