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Government Medicine

US Government Expands Sewage-System Testing for Data on Spread of Pathogens Including Covid-19 (cnn.com) 79

Posted by EditorDavid from the anonymized-data dept.
CNN reports that wastewater-based epidemiology "has proven to be so reliable in dozens of pilot projects across the U.S. that the government has invested millions to create the National Wastewater Surveillance System, or NWSS, a network of 400 testing sites spread across 19 states that is coordinated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The pilot programs have already been "quietly operating behind the scenes, generating data for public health departments across the country, since September 2020." For the first time, the CDC has published data that looks at how much coronavirus is turning up in the country's wastewater. It added this testing data to its Covid-19 dashboard. Tests show that there's been a decrease in the amount of virus at two-thirds of the 255 sites reporting data from the latest 15-day period.

The NWSS includes 400 sites overall, and more than 500 more will begin submitting data in the coming weeks, the CDC says.... [G]enetic material from the virus gets flushed down the toilet into the wastewater stream, where it can be detected by the same kinds of tests labs use to detect the virus from nasal swabs: real time polymerase chain reaction tests, or RT-PCR. This kind of testing is highly sensitive. It can pick up the presence of the virus when just one person out of 100,000 in a given area, or sewershed, is infected. And because wastewater testing doesn't depend on people to realize they're sick and seek out a test, or even to have symptoms at all, it's often the earliest warning a community has that wave of Covid-19 infections is on the way. The CDC estimates that...the samples typically turn positive in an area four to six days before clinical cases show up.

"As long as people are using a toilet that's connected to a sewer, we can get information on those cases in that community," said Amy Kirby, a CDC microbiologist who leads the NWSS project... [But] this kind of testing can't signal when a community is free from the virus because the threshold of detection — how many people have to be positive in an area to show up in a water sample — isn't known. For these reasons, the CDC says, wastewater surveillance is best used along with case-based surveillance....

Kirby says wastewater monitoring will be around long after Covid is gone, too. By the end of the year, the CDC plans to expand the number of pathogens tracked on the dashboard to include influenza, a fungal superbug called Candida auris, and foodborne threats like E. coli and salmonella.
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US Government Expands Sewage-System Testing for Data on Spread of Pathogens Including Covid-19 More

US Government Expands Sewage-System Testing for Data on Spread of Pathogens Including Covid-19

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  • Measuring the amount of a pathogen is present in wastewater is a great idea. However we have to be cautious about this because it could be the case that single individuals may introduce orders of magnitude more measurable material into the waste stream, creating a spike in the results.

    So it seems like more study is needed, to see to what degree results are affected by... the Super Shitter.

    • I suspect this message about COVID in wastewater is only going to confuse people. Are they really detecting COVID or DNA fragments from COVID? People are going to start believing that COVID is spread by toilets.
      • You're right, it will, and the trolls of the world will latch onto this and probably start convincing people that the 'gubmint' is surveilling their own individual personal waste products directly somehow, and label it all a 'liberal conspiracy' of some sort. That seems to be the pattern at least.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hazem ( 472289 )

        I suspect this message about COVID in wastewater is only going to confuse people.

        This reminds me of a quote:
        "Even as a youngster, though, I could not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presented danger, the solution was ignorance." - Isaac Asimov

        Even if this might confuse people or some will intentionally misconstrue it for political gain, it's still better to have this information than not. We can't run away from knowledge just because some people are too stupid or too malicious for their own good.

      • I know, next thing you know those libs are going to be telling us not to lick toilets. But I strongly encourage every freedom loving American to tell those libs to stuff it and to immediately go to your local park and lick every toilet clean. For freedom and stuff.

        • I know, next thing you know those libs are going to be telling us not to lick toilets. But I strongly encourage every freedom loving American to tell those libs to stuff it and to immediately go to your local park and lick every toilet clean. For freedom and stuff.

          Garr, a few years back, I saw a video of a Japanese woman licking doorknobs I don't think this was Pr0n, as she was fully clothed. I wanted to puke anyhow, so if it was Pr0n, it wasn't for me.

      • I suspect this message about COVID in wastewater is only going to confuse people. Are they really detecting COVID or DNA fragments from COVID? People are going to start believing that COVID is spread by toilets.

        Maybe that's part of the new Covid cure of enjoying frosty quaffs of one's own urine?

        • I suspect this message about COVID in wastewater is only going to confuse people. Are they really detecting COVID or DNA fragments from COVID? People are going to start believing that COVID is spread by toilets.

          Maybe that's part of the new Covid cure of enjoying frosty quaffs of one's own urine?

          Why stop there? Eating other people's shit should be the perfect way to anonymize yourself from the evil government toilet spies. "You can't prove that is my DNA, I excrete many".

          • I suspect this message about COVID in wastewater is only going to confuse people. Are they really detecting COVID or DNA fragments from COVID? People are going to start believing that COVID is spread by toilets.

            Maybe that's part of the new Covid cure of enjoying frosty quaffs of one's own urine?

            Why stop there? Eating other people's shit should be the perfect way to anonymize yourself from the evil government toilet spies. "You can't prove that is my DNA, I excrete many".

            We've descended so far into clownworld, that you might have just started the new cure for some people. 8^)

            • We've descended so far into clownworld, that you might have just started the new cure for some people. 8^)

              Rest assured I am happy to help :-)

      • Well shee-it!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Klaxton ( 609696 )

      The article addressed that directly;

      "how many people have to be positive in an area to show up in a water sample — isn't known. For these reasons, the CDC says, wastewater surveillance is best used along with case-based surveillance...."

    • Re:Just one potential problem... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hey! ( 33014 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @01:19PM (#62240381) Homepage Journal

      Not really a problem if you're sampling sewage from hundreds of thousands of people. The data *is* noisy, but if you take a seven day moving average it is impressively reliable predictor of new cases. It is also one of the leading indicators you can use that's least subject to sampling biases; you're sampling everyone who shits in a toilet.

      For smaller sample sizes, naturally it's going to tell you different things. For example if you're sampling the wastewater from a college dorm it probably wouldn't work as well as a precise predictor of future cases, but it will give you early warning that the virus is in the building.

      • Every source of data we have is noisy, to keep perspective. This source averages large numbers and as hey! pointed out is the lowest level of sample bias we've got.

      • Just think of what it's like to live downstream from Cleveland. You're drinking whatever they did last week (along with thousands of fish piss).

        • Nothing is downstream of Cleveland, Ohio, where I am. Just Lake Erie. Considering our industrial heritage, probably a good thing.

          But, (a) yes, they do on occasion dump untreated sewage right onto Edgewater Park, though only during storms, and the "sanitary" (i.e., unsanitary) part it is somewhat diluted by the stormwater; and, (b) we do get our water from only a few miles out (5 I think). Also, (c) much of the system is over 100 years old. The very first parts predate the Civil War, although I'm not sure

      • That's true, and now you can watch it on a dorm-by-dorm basis as it's detected [ucsd.edu]!
    • True, but its still an interesting measure that relates to the total quantity of virus in circulation. If a large enough population is being sampled, the variation in quantity of virus person is not too big a problem.

    • it could be the case that single individuals may introduce orders of magnitude more measurable material into the waste stream, creating a spike in the results.

      You don't say...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      I'm not sure this can monitor the shit coming out people's mouths.

    • Measuring the amount of a pathogen is present in wastewater is a great idea. However we have to be cautious about this because it could be the case that single individuals may introduce orders of magnitude more measurable material into the waste stream, creating a spike in the results.

      Agreed, and I'd assume that this analysis is being used more as a canary rather than a Geiger counter, with avoiding false negatives prioritized above avoiding false positives.

    • ..it could be the case that single individuals may introduce orders of magnitude more measurable material into the waste stream, creating a spike in the results.

      Oh you mean like pretty much every last one of your Slashdot posts?

    • Man I cannot believe how many people are whooshing over a simple joke and taking the setup seriously, all of which was framework to support a joke based on the existence of the Super Spreader.

      Has all the humor finally drained from Slashdot?

    • >

      So it seems like more study is needed, to see to what degree results are affected by... the Super Shitter.

      And that guy we keep catching beating off by the sewer plant.

  • A c**appy idea. (Score:3)

    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @11:42AM (#62240195) Journal

    Sounds like a s**tty idea.

  • Oh boy.. (Score:3)

    by Vegan Cyclist ( 1650427 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @11:57AM (#62240227) Homepage

    The conspiracy theorists are gonna sh!t their pants over this one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      Yea, I was going to say... Big Government, they're looking in your poop.

      • Yea, I was going to say... Big Government, they're looking in your poop.

        And they're extracting genetic material so that the lizard people can clone us, raise children, & run an underground paedophile ring in the tunnels under a Washington pizza parlour. It's true, I heard it on Spotify!

      • Yea, I was going to say... Big Government, they're looking in your poop.

        Wonder what Alex Jones will have to say about it, because he's walys been one brain cell away from playing with his poop.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      Does this mean that your "I pee" address is being broadcast to everyone?
    • Well, if they are checking DNA in the wastewater, they can find you.

  • Nothing new. (Score:3)

    by bumblebees ( 1262534 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @12:27PM (#62240281)
    Strange the surveilance country no1 is only starting now. They have done that in Finland for a long time. Even doing statistics on how much drugs are being used in the community etc. Can be a good way to see how the community as a whole is doing, but then again US gov dont really seem to care how they are doing there when looking at their soc as a whole.
    • What? The US govt doesn't care about its human resources?! Of course they do but there's always been an inexhaustible supply so they don't worry too much about it.

    • Strange the surveilance country no1 is only starting now. They have done that in Finland for a long time.

      I know it's fun to shit all over the USA. hehe, see what I did there?

      But we've been analyzing sewage, raw and treated for a long time and they monitored sewage in the 1940's to track outbreaks of things like polio. https://www.thermofisher.com/b... [thermofisher.com]

      It was sort of monitored before over the ages, but testing had to catch up to do modern testing.

  • They are going to look through the sewage to find E. Coli ?

    Are they serious?

    Nah, they are just going through the motions...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      They are going to look through the sewage to find E. Coli ?
      Are they serious?
      Nah, they are just going through the motions...

      Of course they are. Why, are you being serious?

      Different strains of E Coli are extremely host-specific.
      It is well established from water source testing how to determine the strain, which will indicate if the host was human, or some other mammal. Even hosts that are non-mammals, at least where samples are already established for comparison.

      One can already tell the difference from an E Coli strain that lives in the human gut vs in chicken, cow, pig, and other animals that are common foods for humans.

      This wo

  • Boston From the Start (Score:3)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @01:36PM (#62240435) Homepage Journal

    The MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resource Authority) which handles sewage for Boston and much of eastern Massachusetts has been doing this from the start of the pandemic

    https://www.mwra.com/biobot/bi... [mwra.com]

    The Omicron surge was huge, and forced them to dramatically rescale the Y axis in their graphs. They probably should switch to a log scale, but most people wouldn't understand that.

    • The MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resource Authority) which handles sewage for Boston and much of eastern Massachusetts has been doing this from the start of the pandemic

      https://www.mwra.com/biobot/bi... [mwra.com]

      The Omicron surge was huge, and forced them to dramatically rescale the Y axis in their graphs. They probably should switch to a log scale, but most people wouldn't understand that.

      I'm sure that just like most places, they have taps in various areas to check on the sewage treatment process. So we can monitor how effective the treatment is, and how the treatment affects the pathogens or chemicals. It would be crazy not to do those tests for Covid-19. I'll bet there are tests made for the pathogens causing the illness we've lost any herd immunity of as well.

  • Useful population level pathogen surveillance ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by kbahey ( 102895 ) on Saturday February 05, 2022 @02:17PM (#62240529) Homepage

    This is a very useful population level pathogen surveillance method for large urban centers.

    In Ontario, Canada's largest province (~ 14.5 million), our testing capacity has been overwhelmed with Omicron. The provincial government decided to change the rules for testing, making it only for those in high risk settings, as well as those being admitted to hospitals.

    The last day with population wide testing was January 1st, with 18,445 cases [www.cbc.ca]. Compare that with a previous pandemic high of 4,812 in April 2021, before vaccination ramped up.

    The metrics now are hospital admissions, and ICU occupancy.

    One way some health officials are coping is to rely on wastewater testing for the SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA (N-protein).

    This is not uniform across the country, but certain cities have that, with a subset making the data public.

    Here is a map of which cities have what [www.cbc.ca].

    In the Region of Waterloo, an urban/rural mixed area of ~ 620,000 people, with three small cities, the regional government, in partnership with a local university, has been monitoring wastewater for the virus for over a year. The data seem to be updated weekly though.

    You can see [regionofwaterloo.ca] how much Omicron's signal has shot up, way beyond any other time in the pandemic.

    So it is a useful tool, specially when other tools (e.g. RT-PCR for individuals) gets overwhelmed.

    • Whilst I agree with people that there could be privacy implications in some scenarios, this is already done in the USA to monitor usage of drugs. In kind, New Zealand has found monitoring where Covid-19 may be in the community very valuable in its Covid-19 response.
      A decent write up on how New Zealand uses this can be found at: https://www.health.govt.nz/our... [health.govt.nz]

  • The original proposal for sewer waster treatment was for mass drug testing and there are studies that prove that do actually use it for this.

    • The original proposal for sewer waster treatment was for mass drug testing and there are studies that prove that do actually use it for this.

      Do you have that original proposal? Because we've been testing sewage water for a long long time. https://www.thermofisher.com/b... [thermofisher.com]

  • What's your wifi name?
    National Wastewater Surveillance System
    What's the password? ...erm

  • To slow down our race towards a society with no privacy, I suggest we all stop using the toilet.
  • In general, I think this is good news. But everyone is already tired of this covid. For example, I try to increase my immunity through the use of supplements. I also recently started taking CBD Gummies for Sleep [clevescene.com] because I started having big problems sleeping. I think you should try it too, because these supplements help to get rid of many ailments.

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