US CDC to expand surveillance of travelers for respiratory viruses

Sign points to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on March 26, 2019. [AP Photo]

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will expand its traveler-based surveillance program to include testing for respiratory viruses, partners Ginkgo Bioworks and XWELL said on Monday.

The expansion, to be launched at four of the seven participating airports, comes ahead of the fall and winter months in the United States when viruses that cause respiratory diseases such as influenza and respiratory synctial virus (RSV) usually circulate more heavily.