Using Wastewater Based Epidemiology as an Upcoming Tool for the Prediction and Control of Covid-19 Disease Outbreaks |Biomedgrid

Wastewater provides an excellent source of chemical and biological markers, which in turn serve as tools to decipher human activity. These markers can be analysed to reveal qualitative and quantitative data based on a certain population within a given area. Previous uses of WBE include the monitoring of the use of pharmaceuticals, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use within the community however, the implementation for observation of population health is a rapidly expanding field, which has shown immense potential [1]. One of the most renowned uses of WBE was the implementation during the worldwide eradication of Polio. It was invoked to assess the presence of Polio within the community as well as to monitor the efficacy of the vaccination programme. The approach of WBE is based on assumption that any substance that is excreted in the waste of humans is able to be quantified and can be used to back-calculate the original concentration within a specific population, provided the substance is stable in wastewater [2].