Pathogen Surveillance in Wastewater

Dear Colleagues,

The investigation of pathogenic microorganisms present in wastewater and their epidemiological patterns has great importance for public safety, and accordingly, specialized research has been carried out in this area.

The term “microorganism” covers a broad range of living organisms and infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms. Wastewater contains a high concentration of micro-organisms that may be beneficial, neutral or harmful. Fecal contamination of water supplies with pathogenic microorganisms can cause a wide range of human diseases classified as waterborne, foodborne or feco-oral. Several technologies exist to protect the population from exposure to pathogenic microorganisms; however, the implementation of these technologies is often lacking, especially in the developing regions of the world. Collection and treatment of domestic wastewater are essential in such regions to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. Inadequately treated wastewater when discharged into natural water bodies adversely affects the receiving environment and poses a threat to the biodiversity of aquatic life.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has recently emerged as a method to analyze community health by monitoring biological or chemical signatures contained in sewage. WBE provides supplementary information on disease presence and severity trends, monitoring pathogenic microbes in a population reveals concentrations at the source and enables estimation of infection levels after appropriate normalization, particularly during early pandemic stages. Wastewater monitoring thus offers an opportunity to estimate COVID-19 spread within a community and provide an early-warning system for associated disease outbreaks. Additionally, biological toxins and chemicals of interest, including pharmaceuticals, can be monitored concurrently through WBE. Wastewater analysis holds significant potential for epidemiological applications.

This Special Issue will deal with pathogen surveillance in wastewater.

Dr. Afsatou Ndama Traore
Prof. Dr. Natasha Potgieter
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• microorganisms
• wastewater
• public safety