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Review
. 2022 Feb;10(1):107070.
doi: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.107070. Epub 2021 Dec 24.

Recent advances in the biosensors application for the detection of bacteria and viruses in wastewater

Dana Kadadou  1   2 , Lina Tizani  3 , Vijay S Wadi  1   2 , Fawzi Banat  1   2 , Habiba Alsafar  3   4   5 , Ahmed F Yousef  1   6 , Damià Barceló  7   8 , Shadi W Hasan  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Recent advances in the biosensors application for the detection of bacteria and viruses in wastewater

Dana Kadadou et al. J Environ Chem Eng. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

The presence of disease-causing pathogens in wastewater can provide an excellent diagnostic tool for infectious diseases. Biosensors are far superior to conventional methods used for regular infection screening and surveillance testing. They are rapid, sensitive, inexpensive portable and carry no risk of exposure in their detection schemes. In this context, this review summarizes the most recently developed biosensors for the detection of bacteria and viruses in wastewater. The review also provides information on the new detection methods aimed at screening for SARS-CoV-2, which has now caused more than 4 million deaths. In addition, the review highlights the potential behind on-line and real-time detection of pathogens in wastewater pipelines. Most of the biosensors reported were not targeted to wastewater samples due to the complexity of the matrix. However, this review highlights on the performance factors of recently developed biosensors and discusses the importance of nanotechnology in amplifying the output signals, which in turn increases the accuracy and reliability of biosensors. Current research on the applicability of biosensors in wastewater promises a dramatic change to the conventional approach in the field of medical screening.

Keywords: Biosensing; Nanotechnology; On-site; Real-time; Wastewater-based epidemiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

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Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Illustration of the working principle of biosensors.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fate and transmission of enteric waterborne viruses found in wastewater (developed from [95]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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