We are actually looking for the next pandemic,
that is really what we’re trying to do.
We’re also looking for the weird viruses
that may cause diagnostic tests not to work anymore.
All of the viruses that we study
really are a plane ride away.
It’s always possible to have migration of viruses
whenever there’s migration of people.
The Abbott Surveillance Program
really is a collaborative scientific effort.
We work with partners from around the globe.
To date, we’ve worked in 45 countries on
six continents.
We have an enormous repository of samples
that we've collected over the past 25 years.
To date, we're up to over 78,000 samples
in our program.
Abbott’s tests are used to screen
more than 60% of the world’s blood supply.
We take that responsibility very seriously
to make sure that our tests can detect
every type of HIV and hepatitis
that could be in those samples.
Abbott is announcing the discovery
of a new strain of HIV
called subtype L.
It’s one of the strains that’s part
of the global pandemic of HIV
that is found all around the world.
Discovering this new strain of HIV
is really just the first step.
We’ve confirmed that it exists,
and we’ve shared the sequence with the 
greater research community,
and that will allow everyone to be able to evaluate
how it might impact diagnostic testing,
treatments and potential vaccines.
The ability to discover new viruses
that could be significant
from a global public health perspective,
that’s extremely rewarding and fulfilling.
The discovery of this new strain of HIV
reminds us of why the work we do
is so important at Abbott.
If we can actually prevent
even one infection with HIV or hepatitis,
then we've done our job.
