Wastewater Surveillance: an early warning system for COVID-19 and measles
Tracking of wastewater plays a key role in the development of early warning systems (EWS) for various enteric viruses. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, tracking of wastewater has been proposed for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, and a potentially important public health strategy to combat COVID-19 in a cost-effective manner.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been successfully isolated and quantified in the wastewater of a growing number of countries.
A team at the SAMRC (including the Environment and Health Research Unit, the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform, the Tuberculosis Platform, the Genomics Centre and the Biostatistics Unit), in collaboration with a range of academic and government partners, has completed laboratory and field proof of concept studies, and is now embarking on the full implementation of longer-term surveillance system in high risk settings.
An early warning system for COVID-19 may prove particularly important in countries like South Africa, where there are challenges with health systems infrastructure, testing systems, personal protective equipment (PPE) and human resource capacity.
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More on wastewater surveillance for COVID-19: an African perspective in a publication written by the E&HRU. Further information on water-based epidemiology (WBE) and COVID-19 around the world can be found on: https://www.covid19wbec.org/ |