The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering incorporating sewage sampling from aircraft into its wastewater monitoring system. This has proven useful in monitoring the spread and spread of various pathogens, especially SARS-CoV-2.
Amid the pandemic, the CDC launched a nationwide wastewater testing program in an attempt to stay ahead of the SARS-CoV-2 surge. Viral particles are often shed in the faeces and may be an early sign of infection. Fecal focus has proven useful in sniffing out community-wide transmission trends and disease spread, not just for COVID-19, but for more recent outbreaks such as polio and mpox (formerly monkeypox). Adding surveillance from planes and airports could wash away even more information about the spread of infectious diseases, such as global travel patterns and the emergence of new virus variants.
A study published last week in PLOS Global Public Health found that such sewage monitoring at UK airport terminals and planes was effective in tracking SARS-CoV-2 among international travelers. I was. Overall, surveillance data are “a useful tool for monitoring the global transfer rate of human and other pathogens across national borders, as well as a broader tool for monitoring and containing the spread of future disease outbreaks.” It suggests that it needs to form part of an international effort,” concluded the authors, led by Kata Farkas of Bangor University.
Additionally, a report released last week from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also concluded that wastewater monitoring could be useful during a pandemic and “deserves further development and continued investment.” This includes expansion to sites such as airports to “monitor points of entry for specific emerging pathogens.”
The CDC’s potential monitoring of airborne sewage was first revealed in a Reuters report at the end of December. At the time, official thinking centered on the surge in COVID-19 cases in China and the lack of data from the country after the abrupt lifting of its zero COVID policy. could generate, raising concerns that infected travelers from the country could spur waves elsewhere.
A CDC representative told reporters this week that the agency is still exploring the possibility. “Wastewater monitoring on planes could potentially be an option” to help slow the introduction of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, CDC spokesman Scott Polley told NBC News. .
An unnamed CDC source told CNN Wednesday that agencies are beginning to work on the “logistical and legal” aspects of soaking in waste from planes.As Farkas pointed out to NBC: Long international flights may be most useful for surveillance. However, foreign airlines may be reluctant to allow the extraction of human waste from aircraft.
