Publications by authors named "Alvaro Garcia-Delgado"
Article Synopsis
- Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a valuable tool for monitoring community infections, including silent cases of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.
- Next-generation sequencing (NGS) allows for more detailed analyses of viruses, but many facilities still don't use these advanced methods in their routine surveillance.
- The review discusses how to better incorporate NGS into WBE programs to improve detection of emerging viruses and enhance global health response strategies.
Climate change is intensifying extreme weather events in coastal areas, leading to more frequent discharge of untreated wastewater containing human viruses into coastal waters. This poses a health risk, especially during heatwaves when bathing activity increases. A study examined the survival and viability of seven common wastewater viruses in seawater at different temperatures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic has been driven by international travel. This has led to the desire to develop surveillance approaches which can estimate the rate of import of pathogenic organisms across international borders. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of wastewater-based approaches for the surveillance of viral pathogens on commercial short-haul (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 has revealed important information about the virus's evolution and variant lineages, and expanding this method to other respiratory pathogens can enhance public health preparedness for future outbreaks.
- The study involved sequencing 38 respiratory pathogens in urban wastewater from multiple treatment plants, effectively detecting common viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, and highlighting seasonal variations in pathogen presence and diversity.
- The research showed that while RT-qPCR is great for quantifying pathogens, next-generation sequencing is better for detecting low abundance viruses; combining both methods improves the overall monitoring of respiratory pathogens in communities, aiding in timely public health interventions.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has proven to be a powerful tool for the population-level monitoring of pathogens, particularly severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). For assessment, several wastewater sampling regimes and methods of viral concentration have been investigated, mainly targeting SARS-CoV-2. However, the use of passive samplers in near-source environments for a range of viruses in wastewater is still under-investigated.
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