A surprising tool that has emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is the use of wastewater sampling to monitor the prevalence of infectious diseases in the community.
Dr. Jordan Peccia is a professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at Yale University who has been using this method to track outbreaks in Connecticut.
He and his team take samples of wastewater and test it for the virus’ RNA.
“Remarkably, the cases really do track the concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater,” he said. “They do so really well. If you see cases increase, you’ll see the wastewater increase.”
Wastewater monitoring only provides a broad view of how a disease is circulating within a community, with no way to know who might be infected. But Dr. Peccia says it can be a helpful tool for public health officials to know if cases are rising or declining.
“We can take a sample on Monday morning and we can report that data by Monday night, and that can be several days ahead of what is seen based on testing. And so we get a sneak peak, often at least a week in advance.”
And a year into the pandemic, the system is up and running with little need for upkeep.
“In a city like New Haven there’s 200,000 people, and with one sample we can figure out what’s going on.”
While Dr. Peccia says it is inferior to a robust system of testing, not every country has the resources to conduct millions of PCR tests every day.
“Most countries do not have strong testing programs. Brazil does not have a strong testing program; neither does India, right now.”
Both countries are experiencing significant surges.
Wastewater monitoring can be used to track other diseases besides COVID-19, if they are present in the gut like other coronaviruses.
“When’s the last time that you had a cold and you went to the hospital and they took a swab?” asked Dr. Peccia. “Up until COVID, we didn’t test for infections we have… so we really have little idea about the prevalence of many diseases, even in the United States. And so through wastewater surveillance, I think that can open a window of information.”
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