Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK; Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Chemical Technologies, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK; Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Chemical Technologies, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Environ Int. 2020 Jun;139:105689. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105689. Epub 2020 Apr 4.
Infectious diseases are acknowledged as one of the most critical threats to global public health today. Climate change, unprecedented population growth with accelerated rates of antimicrobial resistance, have resulted in both the emergence of novel pathogenic organisms and the re-emergence of infections that were once controlled. The consequences have led to an increased vulnerability to infectious diseases globally. The ability to rapidly monitor the spread of diseases is key for prevention, intervention and control, however several limitations exist for current surveillance systems and the capacity to cope with the rapid population growth and environmental changes. Wastewater-Based Epidemiology (WBE) is a new epidemiology tool that has potential to act as a complementary approach for current infectious disease surveillance systems and an early warning system for disease outbreaks. WBE postulates that through the analysis of population pooled wastewater, infectious disease and resistance spread, the emergence of new disease outbreak to the community level can be monitored comprehensively and in real-time. This manuscript provides critical overview of current infectious disease surveillance status, as well as it introduces WBE and its recent advancements. It also provides recommendations for further development required for WBE application as an effective tool for infectious disease surveillance.
传染病被公认为当今全球公共卫生面临的最严重威胁之一。气候变化、前所未有的人口增长和抗菌药物耐药性的加速，导致新的病原体的出现和曾经得到控制的感染再次出现。这导致了全球对传染病的易感性增加。快速监测疾病传播的能力是预防、干预和控制的关键，但当前的监测系统存在一些局限性，无法应对快速的人口增长和环境变化。基于污水的流行病学（WBE）是一种新的流行病学工具，有可能作为当前传染病监测系统的补充方法和疾病爆发的早期预警系统。WBE 的假设是，通过对人群混合污水的分析，可以全面、实时地监测传染病和耐药性的传播，以及新的疾病爆发是否会波及到社区层面。本文提供了当前传染病监测状况的重要概述，介绍了 WBE 及其最新进展。还为 WBE 作为传染病监测的有效工具的进一步发展提供了建议。
