Sewage Water Can Help Predict The Next Pandemic

A recent Lancet Global Health study highlights that monitoring wastewater can go a long way towards developing an early warning system which could enable governments to be fully prepared for future pandemics. After all, relying solely on testing individuals for pathogens like the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be an unreliable strategy — especially in regions where people have limited access to affordable testing kits and laboratories. Also, some people might be hesitant to get tested or report they caught an infection. A dearth of reliable data severely hinders countries’ abilities to fight against the rise of a pandemic.

“Despite decades of funding being directed into global infectious disease surveillance, and warning signs that came from both traditional and non-traditional data sources, much of the world was caught off-guard by the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 globally,” the researchers wrote in their Lancet study. “The pandemic would potentially have unfolded differently if there had been a dedicated surveillance system that was on constant alert, continuously transmitting information about existing and emerging pathogens circulating across the globe.”

“Even if pandemic spread was inevitable, health-care systems could have better prepared for the fallout with more advanced notice, saving countless lives,” they added.

But the good news is, monitoring wastewater can fill in data gaps and give a sense of how quickly an infectious disease is spreading. The process includes collecting water samples from rivers, drains, treatment plants, and even wetlands. Those water samples are then put through a series of tests to determine if pathogens are present in those water bodies or not.

To delve into how effective it is to monitor wasterwater, the team surveyed programmes in 43 countries that were dedicated to monitoring sewage water in urban areas. While monitoring teams in high-income countries mainly collected samples from wastewater treatment plants, those in low-income countries collected surface water from open drains, latrines, and manholes. The study further revealed that only a third of the 43 countries shared their wasterwater data publicly. That means, 70% of high-income countries and only 38% of low-income countries uploaded their wastewater data to a public or open-access platform.

“Findings from our global survey clearly show that a wastewater monitoring ecosystem is potentially poised to anchor and advance disease surveillance worldwide,” the researchers noted. “Although our survey cannot fully capture all global experiences with wastewater monitoring, because of the small sample size and reliance on convenience sampling, the stark differences we observed across country income groups suggest that we were able to capture actionable information for the design of adaptable implementation frameworks, funding initiatives, and global data sharing mechanisms.”

However, wastewater monitoring can be done globally only through long-term and generous financial investments. Presently, most monitoring programmes are at the mercy of donor funding, grants, or intermittent government aid. “Funding for wastewater monitoring should be flexibly allocated to account for diverse programme needs, infrastructure, and priorities. Funds should support research and innovation, as well as activities that increase capacity, such as hands-on training of health and water professionals, and mapping of the locations and service populations of sanitation systems,” the researchers explained.