Development of Responsive, Reliable and Accurate Wastewater Surveillance Diagnostics of Infectious Diseases

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The pressure exerted by the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on public health resources resulted in the development and global application of severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 virus wastewater surveillance (CoV-2 WWS). The successes of CoV-2 WWS initiatives around the world along with a recent scientific advancement of the field of wastewater-based epidemiology positions WWS as an important diagnostic tool that can be further advanced for additional health benefits across Canada and the world. In this regard, the Ottawa team of researchers surveyed collaborators and colleagues at First Nation medical teams, local public health units in Ontario, Public Health Ontario (PHO), and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to identify diseases of interest for the advancement of WWS. The public health units and agencies preferentially identified the influenza virus (Flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and monkeypox virus (MPXV). As such, the Ottawa research team in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), Public Health Ontario (PHO), City of Ottawa, Ottawa Public Health (OPH) and The Regional Municipality of York (York Region, which includes York Region Public Health) propose to develop new, responsive, accurate, reliable and comprehensive WWS diagnostic tools for Flu, RSV and MPXV. The research will move beyond the development of methods to quantify disease targets in wastewaters and will address the critical issue of data variability in WWS. Specifically, the research endeavours to advance our current knowledge of disease target partitioning in wastewaters, develop new knowledge of the fate of these disease targets in wastewater infrastructure and identify the use of appropriate biomarkers to normalize the data in order to minimize variability observed in WWS data sets. The research will serve to improve community health in Canada, to mitigate health inequities in the country and will produce responsive diagnostic tools necessary for the country's pandemic preparedness strategies.