Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Assessment and Surveillance

Dear Colleagues,

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has revolutionized public health surveillance by enabling non-invasive, cost-effective monitoring of population-level health trends through wastewater analysis. This Special Issue aims to highlight cutting-edge research and innovations in WBE methodologies, applications, and policy implications. We seek contributions addressing the development of sensitive biomarker detection techniques (e.g., pathogens, pharmaceuticals, and antimicrobial resistance markers), advancements in data normalization and modeling to account for environmental variability, and the integration of WBE with digital epidemiology tools.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Pathogen surveillance (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, emerging viruses, and antimicrobial resistance genes);
• Community exposure assessment for illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals, and environmental toxins;
• Technological innovations in sample collection, high-throughput sequencing, and real-time monitoring;
• Ethical and governance frameworks for data privacy and public health decision-making;
• Case studies demonstrating WBE’s role in pandemic response, environmental justice, and One Health initiatives.

This Special Issue welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives from environmental science, epidemiology, data science, and public policy, fostering a holistic understanding of WBE’s potential to transform global health surveillance in diverse settings.

Dr. Zhenyu Wu
Dr. Zacharias Frontistis
Dr. Qiuda Zheng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.