COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance and Vaccine Effectiveness Tracking

No matter how many COVID-19 clinical tests are done, current methods suffer from serious limitations. Asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic individuals, who are usually missed during routine clinical testing, prevent governments from getting accurate rates of COVID-19 infection, delaying public health responses. Global and domestic research confirms that COVID-19 can be reliably detected in the feces of affected individuals including those with mild to no symptoms – an area where clinical tests fall short.
As such, detection of the virus in wastewater enables the capture of a more accurate reflection of the degree of the outbreak. This system-wide approach, built from the bottom up in partnership with local municipalities, industry and private laboratories will provide vital data that will enable decision-makers, health care professionals, and policy makers to act immediately whenever an outbreak is detected within a community.
Findings from this research will provide municipalities, in-house, and private labs a reliable, credible, robust, and cost-effective testing program that will be ready for practical and sustainable wider implementation.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gail Krantzberg;Zobia Jawed

Student:

Arjun Raha;Bonnie Wei Chen;Lauren Baerg

Partner:

Town of Midland

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

McMaster University