Multidisciplinary initiative to track influenza, other viruses in wastewater

Wastewater signals serve as an early warning for health-care systems to prepare for an impending wave of COVID-19 or influenza. (Mac Lai/Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry) Recognizing Western's excellence in developing robust systems to track and fight global health threats, the government of Ontario has renewed and expanded the university's wastewater surveillance project to track COVID-19, influenza and other emerging viruses until March 2024. The expansion is part of an additional boost of $18.7 million in provincial funding for Ontario's COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance initiative. The initiative, led by a consortium of universities, analyzes the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, shed through human waste, as an indicator to provide public health agencies with insights into disease trends. The renewal of the multidisciplinary project - jointly run by the Faculty of Engineering and Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry - comes at a time when the globe, still grappling with the challenges posed by COVID-19, is facing a growing urgency to detect and preemptively respond to other viral threats of pandemic potential. "Most people are vaccinated against COVID-19. They are either not getting testing for COVID or are testing at home.