Wastewater surveillance beyond Covid-19

A ranking system for communicable disease testing in the tri-county Detroit area, Michigan, USA

Bibliographic Data

ID22077838
AuthorsZachary Gentry (0000-0003-4634-3247, Michigan State University), Liang Zhao (0000-0002-7679-5087, Michigan State University), Russell A Faust (0000-0002-3818-1703, Trinity Health Oakland Hospital), Randy E David (0000-0003-0659-2492, Wayne State University), John Norton (0000-0003-2606-6967, Great Lakes Water Authority), Irene Xagoraraki (0000-0002-8173-430X, Michigan State University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume11
Pages1178515-1178515
Publication date2023-06-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpubh.2023.1178515
PMID37333521
OpenAlexW4379229145
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited203

Introduction: Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wastewater surveillance has been utilized to monitor the disease in the United States through routine national, statewide, and regional monitoring projects. A significant canon of evidence was produced showing that wastewater surveillance is a credible and effective tool for disease monitoring. Hence, the application of wastewater surveillance can extend beyond monitoring SARS-CoV-2 to encompass a diverse range of emerging diseases. This article proposed a ranking system for prioritizing reportable communicable diseases (CDs) in the Tri-County Detroit Area (TCDA), Michigan, for future wastewater surveillance applications at the Great Lakes Water Authority's Water Reclamation Plant (GLWA's WRP). Methods: The comprehensive CD wastewater surveillance ranking system (CDWSRank) was developed based on 6 binary and 6 quantitative parameters. The final ranking scores of CDs were computed by summing the multiplication products of weighting factors for each parameter, and then were sorted based on decreasing priority. Disease incidence data from 2014 to 2021 were collected for the TCDA. Disease incidence trends in the TCDA were endowed with higher weights, prioritizing the TCDA over the state of Michigan. Results: Disparities in incidences of CDs were identified between the TCDA and state of Michigan, indicating epidemiological differences. Among 96 ranked CDs, some top ranked CDs did not present relatively high incidences but were prioritized, suggesting that such CDs require significant attention by wastewater surveillance practitioners, despite their relatively low incidences in the geographic area of interest. Appropriate wastewater sample concentration methods are summarized for the application of wastewater surveillance as per viral, bacterial, parasitic, and fungal pathogens. Discussion: The CDWSRank system is one of the first of its kind to provide an empirical approach to prioritize CDs for wastewater surveillance, specifically in geographies served by centralized wastewater collection in the area of interest. The CDWSRank system provides a methodological tool and critical information that can help public health officials and policymakers allocate resources. It can be used to prioritize disease surveillance efforts and ensure that public health interventions are targeted at the most potentially urgent threats. The CDWSRank system can be easily adopted to geographical locations beyond the TCDA

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Communicable disease · Disease · Disease surveillance · Environmental health · Environmental planning · Geography · Non-communicable disease · Outbreak · Pandemic · Pathology · Public health · Computer Science · Fecal contamination and water quality · Medicine · Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts · SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing · Virology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access