Sewersheds: Wastewater surveillance for disease monitoring
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, detecting the spread of infection was difficult due to costly and selective testing, asymptomatic cases, and delayed data. Wastewater surveillance (monitoring) has gained popularity as an affordable way to monitor whole populations near real-time without needing to collect clinical data from individuals. Wastewater epidemiology (study of health and disease) is a valuable tool for disease trend analysis, early warning, and to study pathogen diversity.
This project aims to understand the relationship between the laboratory results from wastewater monitoring in different communities in Gauteng. The GCRO is currently collaborating with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the use of wastewater data to measure for infectious diseases. Wastewater can be used as a method to monitor trends in diseases, early warning systems, and study genetic diversity in pathogens. The aim of this project is to correlate socio-economic data, spatial form of the city to burden of disease to better inform public policy.
Outputs
Presentations:
Fiona Els (June 2023). "Exploring the relationship between wastewater levels of SARS-CoV-2 and population socio-economics for the period 4 March 2021 to 31 January 2023". National Institute for Communicable Diseases, 20 June 2023.
Fiona Els (June2023). "Epidemiological differences between patients hospitalised with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza infection in hospitalised individuals in South Africa". School of Health Systems and Public Health. University of Pretoria, 29 June 2023.
Conferences and posters:
Fiona Els, Laven Naidoo, Yashena Naidoo, Boitumelo Mokgoja, Cher Petersen, Phemelo Mahamuza, Emmanuel Phalane, Nosihle Sithandiwe Msomi, Mokgaetji Macheke, Chinwe Iwu-Jaja, Gillian Maree, Kerrigan McCarthy (June 2023). "Determining the impact of socio-economic conditions on SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease in Gauteng Province, South Africa using wastewater-based epidemiology". Wastewater based epidemiology Research Coordination Network Wastewater surveillance Annual Meeting, 2 August 2023. Virtual poster presentation.
Fiona Els, Laven Naidoo, Yashena Naidoo, Boitumelo Mokgoja, Cher Petersen, Phemelo Mahamuza, Emmanuel Phalane, Nosihle Sithandiwe Msomi, Mokgaetji Macheke, Chinwe Iwu-Jaja, Gillian Maree, Kerrigan McCarthy (June 2023). "Determining the impact of socio-economic conditions on SARS-CoV-2 burden of disease in Gauteng Province, South Africa using wastewater-based epidemiology". Clinic on Meaningful Modeling of Epidemiological Data, 27 June 2023. Poster presentation. Muizenberg, Cape Town.
Last updated: 31 August 2023.
