New research supported by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has shown that the time to detect polio can be halved using a technique called Direct molecular Detection and Nanopore Sequencing (DDNS), supporting the global effort to eradicate polio and help save lives.

A new study, ‘Sensitive poliovirus detection using nested PCR and nanopore sequencing: a prospective validation study’, published yesterday (17 August 2023) in Nature Microbiology, proves that using DDNS to detect polio outbreaks can save public health authorities crucial time and money.