Morales Daniela, Rhodes Tim, O'Reilly Kathleen M
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Gates Open Res. 2025 May 27;8:61. doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.15489.2. eCollection 2024.
Wastewater (WW) -based epidemiology is the detection of pathogens and chemicals from wastewater, typically sewage systems. Its use gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as a rapid and non-invasive way to assess infection prevalence in a population. Public facing dashboards for SARS-CoV-2 were developed in response to the discovery that RNA biomarkers were being shed in faeces before symptoms. However, there is not a standard template or guidance for countries to follow. The aim of this research is to reflect on how currently available dashboards evolved during the pandemic and identify suitable content and rationale from these experiences.
Interviews were carried out with implementers and users of dashboards for SARS-CoV-2 WW data across Europe and North America. The interviews addressed commonalities and inconsistencies in displaying epidemiological data of SARS-CoV-2, clinical parameters of COVID-19, data on variants, and data transparency.
The thematic analysis identified WW dashboard elements that can facilitate standardization, or at least interoperability. These elements emphasise communication among developers under the same organization, open access for identified stakeholders, and data summarized with a time-intensive graphic analysis through normalizing at least by population. Simultaneous communication of clinical surveillance is recommended. More research is needed on flow and faecal indicators for normalization of WW data, and on the analysis and representation of variants.
WW dashboard development between 2020-2023 provided a 'real-time' iterative process of data representation, and several recommendations have been identified. Communication of data through dashboards has the potential to support early warning systems for infectious diseases.
基于废水的流行病学是指从废水（通常是污水系统）中检测病原体和化学物质。在新冠疫情期间，它作为一种快速且非侵入性的方法来评估人群中的感染流行率而受到广泛应用。由于发现RNA生物标志物在症状出现前就已在粪便中排出，面向公众的新冠病毒仪表盘应运而生。然而，各国并没有可遵循的标准模板或指南。本研究的目的是反思当前可用的仪表盘在疫情期间是如何演变的，并从这些经验中确定合适的内容及基本原理。
对欧洲和北美的新冠病毒废水数据仪表盘的实施者和用户进行了访谈。访谈涉及新冠病毒流行病学数据展示、新冠肺炎临床参数、变异株数据以及数据透明度方面的共性和不一致性。
主题分析确定了有助于标准化甚至至少实现互操作性的废水仪表盘要素。这些要素强调同一组织内开发者之间的沟通、确定的利益相关者的开放获取，以及通过至少按人口进行归一化处理的耗时图形分析来汇总数据。建议同时进行临床监测的沟通。关于废水数据归一化的流量和粪便指标以及变异株的分析和呈现，还需要更多研究。
2020年至2023年期间的废水仪表盘开发提供了一个数据呈现的“实时”迭代过程，并确定了若干建议。通过仪表盘进行数据沟通有可能支持传染病预警系统。
