Strengthening Wastewater Surveillance to Monitor Infectious Diseases

Wastewater surveillance, a crucial public health tool, is being expanded to monitor more commonly reported symptoms caused by several pathogens, such as fever, diarrhoea, acute encephalitis syndrome, and respiratory distress. Currently used for polio and Covid-19, this surveillance will now be deployed to track ten pathogens across 50 cities over the next six months. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is strengthening this tool to detect potential outbreaks early and identify unusual patterns that may indicate a public health concern.

Key Takeaways:

• The ICMR's national network of Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories will supplement patient sample findings with wastewater surveillance to track pathogens discharged in wastewater.
• The enhanced surveillance will capture resistance patterns in the community, which cannot be tracked through hospital-based antimicrobial resistance surveillance.
• The current syndromic surveillance for respiratory infections and influenza-like illnesses involves testing 1,500 patient samples every week through a national network of laboratories.
• The surveillance will be expanded to wastewater in the coming months, allowing for early detection of potential outbreaks and identification of unusual patterns.
• Genomic sequencing will be used to identify the cause of an outbreak if the pathogen cannot be detected through laboratory tests.
• Wastewater surveillance proved to be an effective tool in tracking Covid-19, detecting the pathogen up to three weeks before clinical diagnosis in Mumbai and 130-253 days before clinical identification of the XBB variant in Pune.

Statistics:

• 50 cities will be covered in the next six months for wastewater surveillance to monitor ten pathogens.
• 1,500 patient samples are tested every week through the national network of laboratories for respiratory infections and influenza-like illnesses.
• 60 hospitals across the country are part of the current network for tracking changes in antimicrobial susceptibility.

Sources:

• The Indian Express
• Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
• Contify.com