ECDC: on Air - Episode 73 - Enkirch & Riess: Signals Below the Surface - Wastewater Surveillance

Public health podcast | Wastewater surveillance | Infectious disease monitoring --- Wastewater surveillance is becoming an important tool for monitoring infectious diseases. In this episode of ECDC: On Air, microbiologists Theresa Enkirch and Maximilian Riess explain how wastewater surveillance works and why it is becoming increasingly valuable for public health. By analysing samples from sewage systems, scientists can detect pathogens shed by populations and track trends in infections across communities. The approach gained significant attention during the COVID-19 pandemic but has long been used in environmental surveillance for diseases such as poliovirus. Wastewater surveillance does not replace traditional infectious disease surveillance. Instead, it complements existing systems by detecting the presence of pathogens, identifying trends in transmission, and helping public health authorities monitor infectious disease activity at population level. The episode also looks at how wastewater monitoring is developing across Europe and how emerging technologies may further expand its role in detecting infectious disease threats. --- In this episode: wastewater surveillance, infectious disease monitoring, sewage surveillance methods, early warning systems for outbreaks, poliovirus environmental surveillance, pathogen detection in wastewater, and the future of wastewater monitoring in Europe. ➡ Learn more about wastewater surveillance on ECDC pages here: https://bit.ly/4scJAoT ➡ ECDC Framework on wastewater-based surveillance: https://bit.ly/4urEkiW ------------- Chapters: ------------- #WastewaterSurveillance #PublicHealth #Epidemiology #InfectiousDiseases #DiseaseSurveillance