Wastewater Respiratory Virus Surveillance in Remote Community, Alaska, USA, 2022–2024

Résumé fourni par la source

Wastewater surveillance (WS) is underused in rural communities. We evaluated WS performance in the remote, subarctic, mostly Indigenous, community of Bethel, Alaska, USA, during October 2022–May 2024. Wastewater was collected > 3 times weekly and underwent on-site PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza A and B viruses. We compared WS virus detection with local clinical data by using results from 318 wastewater samples and 7,392 clinical tests. We detected SARS-CoV-2 in 265 (83.3%) wastewater samples, influenza A virus in 128 (40.3%), RSV in 78 (24.5%), and influenza B virus in 29 (9.1%). Wastewater signals correlated with clinical results for influenza B virus (Spearman ρ = 0.85), influenza A virus (ρ = 0.62), RSV (ρ = 0.60), and SARS-CoV-2 (ρ = 0.59), providing corroborating data that informed the timing of seasonal respiratory virus immunization campaigns. Our findings show that WS is feasible and useful for disease surveillance in rural Alaska.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.