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Review
. 2020 Oct:17:1-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.coesh.2020.04.006. Epub 2020 May 11.

The potential of wastewater-based epidemiology as surveillance and early warning of infectious disease outbreaks

Kang Mao  1 , Kuankuan Zhang  1 , Wei Du  2 , Waqar Ali  1 , Xinbin Feng  1 , Hua Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

The potential of wastewater-based epidemiology as surveillance and early warning of infectious disease outbreaks

Kang Mao et al. Curr Opin Environ Sci Health. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Infectious diseases caused by pathogens have become one of the main threats to public health. Efficient monitoring of infectious disease transmission is critical to prevent and manage infectious disease epidemics. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an efficient approach with great potential for early warning of infectious disease transmission and outbreaks. By analyzing infectious disease biomarkers in wastewater taken from wastewater collection points, the transmission of infectious diseases in certain areas can be comprehensively monitored in near real time. This short review presents WBE as a surveillance and early warning system for infectious disease outbreaks regarding pathogens with pandemic potential. We also discuss the challenges and perspective of WBE in infectious disease surveillance and early warning.

Keywords: Early warning; Infectious disease; Pathogen; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Nothing declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Demonstration of WBE as a surveillance system and early warning for outbreaks of infectious diseases caused by pathogens. WBE, wastewater-based epidemiology.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Design of an integrated sensor for the detection of multiplex infectious disease pathogens. (a) Components of the sensor. (b) Illustration of the complete sample processing from sample introduction to pathogen detection. Adapted with permission from Yang et al. [36,42].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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