Poo: An Early Warning System For Covid-19

The South African Medical Research Council explains the unexpected role that sewage plays in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- Angela Mathee, Renee Street, Mongezi Mdhluli, Sizwe Nkambule, Johan Louw, Christo Muller, Rabia Johnson And Glenda Gray

Many would regard sewage (wastewater) as nothing more than a problem for the environment and public health. Increasingly however, there is value being derived from the processing of it. For example, phosphorous is being extracted from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) for use as fertiliser, while algae are being used for the sequestration of carbon from the exhausts of coal and gas boilers.

For decades wastewater has also been serving an under-recognised, yet important, role in environmental and public health. Wastewater monitoring has been used to track levels of pharmaceuticals, drugs and pollutants to inform environment and health actions. Scientists have also been able to isolate and quantify the genetic material from viruses such as measles, hepatitis A and norovirus from samples of wastewater. It is thus an important medium to track the health of communities. Of particular significance has been the important role that wastewater monitoring played in the worldwide eradication of the dreadful disease, poliomyelitis.

Identifying Covid-19 in wastewater