Gan Charles, Pitton Melissa, de Korne-Elenbaas Jolinda, Cobuccio Ludovico, Cassini Alessandro, Ort Christoph, Julian Timothy R
Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland.
Cantonal Doctor Office, Public Health Department, Lausanne 1014, Switzerland.
Environ Sci Technol Lett. 2025 May 22;12(6):689-694. doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00244. eCollection 2025 Jun 10.
Measles outbreaks remain a significant public health challenge, despite high vaccination coverage in many regions. Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) offers a noninvasive and community-level approach to monitoring the circulation of pathogens, including the measles virus. Here, we retrospectively applied a duplex digital PCR assay to distinguish between wild-type and vaccine strains of the measles virus in wastewater samples available from an existing national WBS program. Samples originated from the wastewater treatment plant serving the Lausanne city catchment area, where an outbreak occurred before spreading to the broader Canton Vaud region. Despite high vaccination rates, viral loads of the measles wild type were detected during the first transmission event involving 21 cases identified within a week. However, viral loads were no longer detectable after the initial 21 cases, despite an additional 30 cases reported in the following 3 weeks, possibly due to lower incidence rate or location outside the catchment. Measles vaccine strain was not detected during the outbreak. Our results demonstrate the complementarity of WBS with clinical surveillance and suggest its potential as an early warning system for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Further improvements in the assay sensitivity and integration with epidemiological data could enhance the utility of WBS for outbreak detection and control.
尽管许多地区的疫苗接种覆盖率很高，但麻疹疫情仍然是一项重大的公共卫生挑战。基于废水的监测（WBS）提供了一种非侵入性的、社区层面的方法来监测病原体的传播，包括麻疹病毒。在此，我们回顾性地应用了一种双重数字PCR检测方法，以区分来自现有国家WBS项目的废水样本中的麻疹病毒野生型和疫苗株。样本来自为洛桑市集水区服务的污水处理厂，在那里爆发了疫情，随后蔓延到更广泛的沃州地区。尽管疫苗接种率很高，但在涉及一周内确诊为21例的首次传播事件中，检测到了麻疹野生型病毒载量。然而，在最初的21例病例之后，尽管在接下来的3周内又报告了30例病例，但病毒载量不再可检测到，这可能是由于发病率较低或位于集水区之外。在疫情期间未检测到麻疹疫苗株。我们的结果证明了WBS与临床监测的互补性，并表明其作为麻疹和其他疫苗可预防疾病的早期预警系统的潜力。进一步提高检测灵敏度并与流行病学数据相结合，可以增强WBS在疫情检测和控制中的效用。
