Communicable E15: Wastewater surveillance – can it really protect us from infections?

Wastewater surveillance is a powerful epidemiological tool that “mirrors our life,” and has gained wide attention in recent years due to its application during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hosts this week, Drs. Navaneeth Narayanan and Emily McDonald, are joined by two wastewater surveillance experts, Dr. Nasreen Hassoun-Kheir of Geneva University Hospitals, a WHO Collaborating Centre on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as well as Professor David Graham of Newcastle University, United Kingdom, to discuss how this surveillance method—as well as a multidisciplinary approach—are central to understanding community health, infection control and pandemic preparedness.

This episode was edited by Kathryn Hostettler and peer reviewed by Dr. James Donnelly of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Dublin, Ireland.

Literature

UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Bracing for superbugs (2023) https://www.unep.org/resources/superbugs/environmental-action 

Hassoun-Kheir N, et al. EMBRACE-WATERS statement (2021). doi:10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100339

Hassoun-Kheir N, et al. Systematic review (2020). doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140804

Trask JD, et al. (1942). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2135222/

Chapters

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (03:03) - Icebreaker question
• (08:33) - What is wastewater surveillance (WWS)?
• (12:47) - How does WWS relate to infection surveillance?
• (16:57) - WWS & pandemic preparedness
• (21:09) - Is the data accessible to the public?
• (25:10) - WWS uses in healthcare settings & mass health: what it can and cannot answer
• (43:00) - What's next for WWS: experts' picks
• (48:33) - Take-home messages