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Abstract

Background

Wastewater 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.

Aim

We 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.

Methods

Pilot 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.

Results

Case 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.

Conclusions

The 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.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2024-11-21
2024-12-12
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.47.2400055
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Agile, on-demand wastewater surveillance of virus infections to support pandemic and outbreak response in Rotterdam-Rijnmond, the Netherlands, 2020 to 2022
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Emma+Besijn&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Besijn Emma</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Jane+Whelan&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Whelan Jane</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Paul+Bijkerk&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Bijkerk Paul</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Gregorius+J+Sips&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Sips Gregorius J</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Jeroen+Langeveld&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Langeveld Jeroen</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Ray+W+Izquierdo-Lara&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Izquierdo-Lara Ray W</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Elvira+van+Baarle&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">van Baarle Elvira</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Remy+Schilperoort&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Schilperoort Remy</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Marion+P+G+Koopmans&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Koopmans Marion P G</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Miranda+de+Graaf&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">de Graaf Miranda</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Gertjan+Medema&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Medema Gertjan</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Ewout+Fanoy&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Fanoy Ewout</a></span>. Agile, on-demand wastewater surveillance of virus infections to support pandemic and outbreak response in Rotterdam-Rijnmond, the Netherlands, 2020 to 2022. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2024;29(47):pii=2400055. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.47.2400055" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.47.2400055</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 24 Jan 2024;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 24 Jun 2024 </span> </p>
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.47.2400055
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