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Lookup NU author(s): Christopher Azubuike, Dr Thomas HowardORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2022 by the authors. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) permits the sustainable surveillance of pathogens in large populations and does not discriminate between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. WBE allows health authorities and policymakers to make swift decisions to limit the impact of local and regional disease outbreaks, minimise the spread of infection and mitigate the effects of pathogen importation. Biosensors are an exciting addition to conventional WBE analytical approaches. Combined with sentinel surveillance programs, biosensors can be reactive to novel variants of a virus in the community. However, progress developing biosensors for wastewater surveillance is severely limited compared to advances in clinical diagnostics, with a lack of well-developed biosensors currently being available. Whilst the field of biosensors is vast, this review focuses on trends in monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater over a key period (2020–2021). We explore the complexities involved in sampling within wastewater networks, the options for target selection, and reflect on the ethical considerations and limitations of this approach by highlighting the complex transdisciplinary connections needed. The outlook for WBE biosensors is assessed to be on a positive trajectory as current technical challenges are overcome. Finally, we outline the current status and where further development is needed to have a systematic feedback mechanism which would allow wastewater biosensors to be kept current and relevant to emergent pathogens.
Author(s): Azubuike CC, Couceiro F, Robson SC, Piccinni MZ, Watts JEM, Williams JB, Callaghan AJ, Howard TP
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Sustainability
Year: 2022
Volume: 14
Issue: 24
Online publication date: 14/12/2022
Acceptance date: 03/12/2022
ISSN (electronic): 2071-1050
Publisher: MDPI
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416761
DOI: 10.3390/su142416761
