Waste water surveillance really exploded with COVID. I don't know about the Netherlands, (I assume it's similar) but in the US there was no standing nationwide program to do surveillance for any pathogen. On a local basis, if a problem arose, like the polio case in NY state, then local state authorities would set up ad hoc testing. In the case of the Netherlands, the only reason they were doing this testing was because there was a Polio lab in that area. In the past waste water testing had been used mostly in third world locations to monitor pathogens which normally are not present, but can cause epidemics sporadically, like Cholera and Polio. Across the US, COVID water testing started in a few metropolitan areas and University campuses which had access to labs with quick turn around times. In Telluride the program we set up was paid for by the local county and administered by the Department of Health. All the data analysis was done by myself and a colleague pro bono. Eventually after more than a year the State of CO subsumed our program into a state wide program. The CDC eventually (took much too long) began collecting the data from all the independent local and state Public Health Departments, and displays the aggregate data on their web site, but the programs depend on local support ,and many are winding down now.
A few questions about wastewater surveillance...how does the determination of which pathogens to look for differ between the Netherlands and the US? Which agency in the US is responsible for that decision? Keep up the good work!
Waste water surveillance really exploded with COVID. I don't know about the Netherlands, (I assume it's similar) but in the US there was no standing nationwide program to do surveillance for any pathogen. On a local basis, if a problem arose, like the polio case in NY state, then local state authorities would set up ad hoc testing. In the case of the Netherlands, the only reason they were doing this testing was because there was a Polio lab in that area. In the past waste water testing had been used mostly in third world locations to monitor pathogens which normally are not present, but can cause epidemics sporadically, like Cholera and Polio. Across the US, COVID water testing started in a few metropolitan areas and University campuses which had access to labs with quick turn around times. In Telluride the program we set up was paid for by the local county and administered by the Department of Health. All the data analysis was done by myself and a colleague pro bono. Eventually after more than a year the State of CO subsumed our program into a state wide program. The CDC eventually (took much too long) began collecting the data from all the independent local and state Public Health Departments, and displays the aggregate data on their web site, but the programs depend on local support ,and many are winding down now.
Jeffrey,
A few questions about wastewater surveillance...how does the determination of which pathogens to look for differ between the Netherlands and the US? Which agency in the US is responsible for that decision? Keep up the good work!
Debbie Frankfurt