Journal Article Ppublish
PubMed: 39574391 DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.47.2400055
Agile, on-demand wastewater surveillance of virus infections to support pandemic and outbreak response in Rotterdam-Rijnmond, the Netherlands, 2020 to 2022.
Euro Surveill 29(47)
Authors: Emma Besijn, Jane Whelan, Paul Bijkerk, Gregorius J Sips, Jeroen Langeveld, Ray W Izquierdo-Lara, Elvira van Baarle, Remy Schilperoort, Marion P G Koopmans, Miranda de Graaf, Gertjan Medema, Ewout Fanoy
Affiliations
- Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.
- Public Health Service Rotterdam-Rijnmond, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- Partners for Urban Water, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- Sanitary Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
- Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- These authors contributed equally to this work and share last authorship.
- KWR Water Research Institute, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
Abstract
BackgroundWastewater surveillance may support early and comprehensive detection of infectious diseases' community transmission, particularly in settings where other health surveillance systems provide biased or limited information. Amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, deploying passive samplers to monitor targeted populations gained importance. Evaluation of the added public health value of this approach in the field can support its broader adoption.AimWe aimed to assess the feasibility and utility of on-demand wastewater surveillance, employing passive samplers, for SARS-CoV-2 and monkeypox virus (MPXV) in small/targeted populations, also considering ethical aspects.MethodsPilot case studies in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region were used for a systematic assessment of the feasibility and utility of wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 (variants) and MPXV using passive sampling. Each case study was instigated by actual questions from the Public Health Service about disease transmission.ResultsCase study results demonstrated the feasibility and utility of on-demand wastewater surveillance with successful identification of a local peak in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, early detection of wider Omicron variant transmission after the first case was reported, as well as indication of no emerging local MPXV transmission. Ethical considerations led to the abandonment of one case study involving a displaced population.ConclusionsThe study confirms the feasibility and utility of passive sampling for real-time infectious disease surveillance, at desired spatiotemporal resolution. Ethical concerns and operational challenges were identified, highlighting the need for early stakeholder engagement and ethical guideline adherence. The method could be used to study under-surveyed populations and be extended beyond SARS-CoV-2 and MPXV to other pathogens.
MeSH
Viruses, Pandemics, Communicable Diseases, Infections, Virus Diseases