Public Health Risk Sciences Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 370 Speedvale Avenue West, Guelph, Ontario N1H 7M7, Canada E-mail:
One Health Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 110 Stone Road, Guelph, Ontario N1G 3W4, Canada.
J Water Health. 2024 Feb;22(2):436-449. doi: 10.2166/wh.2024.326.
Wastewater monitoring is an approach to identify the presence or abundance of pathogens within a population. The objective of this scoping review (ScR) was to identify and characterize research on human pathogens and antimicrobial resistance detected in untreated human wastewater and sludge. A search was conducted up to March 2023 and standard ScR methodology was followed. This ScR included 1,722 articles, of which 56.5% were published after the emergence of COVID-19. Viruses and bacteria were commonly investigated, while research on protozoa, helminths, and fungi was infrequent. Articles prior to 2019 were dominated by research on pathogens transmitted through fecal-oral or waterborne pathways, whereas more recent articles have explored the detection of pathogens transmitted through other pathways such as respiratory and vector-borne. There was variation in sampling, samples, and sample processing across studies. The current evidence suggests that wastewater monitoring could be applied to a range of pathogens as a public health tool to detect an emerging pathogen and understand the burden and spread of disease to inform decision-making. Further development and refinement of the methods to identify and interpret wastewater signals for different prioritized pathogens are needed to develop standards on when, why, and how to monitor effectively.
污水监测是一种在人群中识别病原体存在或丰度的方法。本范围综述(ScR)的目的是识别和描述在未经处理的人类废水中和污泥中检测到的人类病原体和抗微生物药物耐药性的研究。搜索截至 2023 年 3 月,并遵循标准的 ScR 方法。本 ScR 包括 1722 篇文章,其中 56.5%是在 COVID-19 出现后发表的。病毒和细菌通常是研究的对象,而对原生动物、蠕虫和真菌的研究则很少。2019 年之前的文章主要集中在通过粪口或水传播途径传播的病原体研究上,而最近的文章则探讨了通过其他途径(如呼吸道和媒介传播)传播的病原体的检测。研究之间在采样、样本和样本处理方面存在差异。目前的证据表明,污水监测可以作为一种公共卫生工具应用于一系列病原体,以检测新出现的病原体,并了解疾病的负担和传播,为决策提供信息。需要进一步开发和完善用于识别和解释污水信号的方法,以针对不同优先病原体制定标准,以确定何时、为何以及如何有效地进行监测。