tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Clin Microbiol Rev
. 2023 Dec 14:e0010322.
doi: 10.1128/cmr.00103-22. Online ahead of print. Wastewater-based surveillance as a tool for public health action: SARS-CoV-2 and beyond
Michael D Parkins[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Bonita E Lee[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nicole Acosta[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maria Bautista[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Casey R J Hubert[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Steve E Hrudey[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Kevin Frankowski[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Xiao-Li Pang[SUP] 6 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
SUMMARYWastewater-based surveillance (WBS) has undergone dramatic advancement in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The power and potential of this platform technology were rapidly realized when it became evident that not only did WBS-measured SARS-CoV-2 RNA correlate strongly with COVID-19 clinical disease within monitored populations but also, in fact, it functioned as a leading indicator. Teams from across the globe rapidly innovated novel approaches by which wastewater could be collected from diverse sewersheds ranging from wastewater treatment plants (enabling community-level surveillance) to more granular locations including individual neighborhoods and high-risk buildings such as long-term care facilities (LTCF). Efficient processes enabled SARS-CoV-2 RNA extraction and concentration from the highly dilute wastewater matrix. Molecular and genomic tools to identify, quantify, and characterize SARS-CoV-2 and its various variants were adapted from clinical programs and applied to these mixed environmental systems. Novel data-sharing tools allowed this information to be mobilized and made immediately available to public health and government decision-makers and even the public, enabling evidence-informed decision-making based on local disease dynamics. WBS has since been recognized as a tool of transformative potential, providing near-real-time cost-effective, objective, comprehensive, and inclusive data on the changing prevalence of measured analytes across space and time in populations. However, as a consequence of rapid innovation from hundreds of teams simultaneously, tremendous heterogeneity currently exists in the SARS-CoV-2 WBS literature. This manuscript provides a state-of-the-art review of WBS as established with SARS-CoV-2 and details the current work underway expanding its scope to other infectious disease targets.
Keywords: COVID-19; antimicrobial resistance; polio; sewage; wastewater; wastewater-based epidemiology.
. 2023 Dec 14:e0010322.
doi: 10.1128/cmr.00103-22. Online ahead of print. Wastewater-based surveillance as a tool for public health action: SARS-CoV-2 and beyond
Michael D Parkins[SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Bonita E Lee[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nicole Acosta[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maria Bautista[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Casey R J Hubert[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Steve E Hrudey[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Kevin Frankowski[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Xiao-Li Pang[SUP] 6 8 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 38095438
- DOI: 10.1128/cmr.00103-22
SUMMARYWastewater-based surveillance (WBS) has undergone dramatic advancement in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The power and potential of this platform technology were rapidly realized when it became evident that not only did WBS-measured SARS-CoV-2 RNA correlate strongly with COVID-19 clinical disease within monitored populations but also, in fact, it functioned as a leading indicator. Teams from across the globe rapidly innovated novel approaches by which wastewater could be collected from diverse sewersheds ranging from wastewater treatment plants (enabling community-level surveillance) to more granular locations including individual neighborhoods and high-risk buildings such as long-term care facilities (LTCF). Efficient processes enabled SARS-CoV-2 RNA extraction and concentration from the highly dilute wastewater matrix. Molecular and genomic tools to identify, quantify, and characterize SARS-CoV-2 and its various variants were adapted from clinical programs and applied to these mixed environmental systems. Novel data-sharing tools allowed this information to be mobilized and made immediately available to public health and government decision-makers and even the public, enabling evidence-informed decision-making based on local disease dynamics. WBS has since been recognized as a tool of transformative potential, providing near-real-time cost-effective, objective, comprehensive, and inclusive data on the changing prevalence of measured analytes across space and time in populations. However, as a consequence of rapid innovation from hundreds of teams simultaneously, tremendous heterogeneity currently exists in the SARS-CoV-2 WBS literature. This manuscript provides a state-of-the-art review of WBS as established with SARS-CoV-2 and details the current work underway expanding its scope to other infectious disease targets.
Keywords: COVID-19; antimicrobial resistance; polio; sewage; wastewater; wastewater-based epidemiology.