Wastewater biosurveillance uses epidemiology methods to detect, monitor, and provide timely alerts about potential disease in communities. Wastewater biosurveillance seeks to measure –
- Community-level nature and extent of disease
- Prevalence of resistant organisms
- Community-wide drug use
Estimates of the general level of community-wide infection can be made using published data on viral loads, water usage, RNA decay rates in wastewater, etc. These estimates are used to—
- Evaluate trends
- Compare benchmarks and other locations
- Serve as an early warning to healthcare facilities
- Develop regulations and guidance on preventive measures to support public health policy implementation
Individuals may be only mildly symptomatic or even asymptomatic but still shed virus that is detectable by wastewater biosurveillance. Wastewater sampling allows for the collection of a pooled sample from all contributors to a wastewater collection system, collected at a single point, without disrupting missions, or compromising individual privacy.
