NEW YORK – Scientists are finding ways to predict the future spread of infectious diseases such as coronavirus, monkeypox and polio in the community by investigating sewage found in underground sewers.
NYC Health + Hospitals launched its new bio-surveillance program in February and successfully predicted COVID-19 and flu rates for up to 14 days before they are reflected in the clinical setting. Since then, diseases such as polio and monkeypox have been included in the program’s tests.
“Wastewater allows us to sample the entire community at the same time with a single test. We can literally sample hundreds of thousands of people here in New York City. We can roughly tell the level of SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater and extrapolate that in case numbers, “our sister network, biology professor John Dennehy of Queens College CUNY, told NBC New York.
Working with wastewater is not a new test method. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) to track the coronavirus as it traveled across the United States.
With more and more people turning to rapid home testing, wastewater monitoring is a cost-effective, non-invasive approach that can provide early warning of disease outbreaks in particular communities.
“Our COVID-19 PCR tests started to decline, so as a hospital system we needed to know what was going on in our community and our patient population,” said Leopolda Silvera, Global Health Associate, Global Health Institute for NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst.
The rise and decline of diseases can be seen within this surveillance, which means hospitals can be proactive with staffing sites, improve vaccine training and allocate resources. NYC Health + Hospitals is working with the city on data update efforts.
Viruses spread in the bathroom even after flushing, making it an indicator of what is infecting an area.
Samples are collected from 11 hospitals with wastewater flowing through pipes or manholes. The next stop is Queens College CUNY’s Wastewater Epidemiology Laboratory (WETLAB), where captured viruses are processed to extract genetic material containing information.
The final phase takes place in the Pandemic Response Laboratory for genomic sequencing, where specific variants can be amplified and detected.
Once health departments receive wastewater test results, health professionals can devise strategies to slow the spread.
“There are two main reasons why this is just starting to grow. One is that it’s a complicated business that requires a lot of coordination with many stakeholders, but of course it’s the complexity of the sequence,” said Jon Brennan-Badal. CEO of Opentrons Labworks, who hopes this business is better known.
