The University of Southern California implemented a wastewater-based surveillance program to proactively prevent viral outbreaks and maintain a safe campus environment for students. Wastewater surveillance allows for early detection of infectious diseases within a community. It circumvents the difficulties of accessibility and availability of individual clinical testing, as well as the shift towards at-home tests that do not get reported.
The wastewater surveillance was initially designed to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 infections; however, as the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the program expanded to include important seasonal respiratory and enteric pathogens, including influenza A, norovirus, as well as PMMoV for normalization. The results have allowed Dr. Adam Smith, Associate Professor with Viterbi School of Engineering, and his research team to establish correlations between the USC wastewater samples, WastewaterSCAN’s of LA County HWRP data, and USC Student Health Center clinical case data and assess the impact of varying wastewater lead-time and PMMoV normalization on correlations with clinical cases. The USC wastewater sampling data is presented below by viral concentration.
Questions about the research study can be directed to Dr. Adam Smith and the article: Amplitude Mutiplexed Wastewater Surveillance for Campus Health: Tracking SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, and Norovirus.
How to use this Wastewater sampling dashboard:
- Use the page arrows at the bottom to view the Overview, SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, and Norovirus dashboards.
- Use the available page filters to sort data