According to a report, the Alaska Division of Public Health hopes to expand wastewater surveillance systems that have proven useful in detecting outbreaks of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
Testing at John M. Anchorage’s Asplund, the city’s main wastewater treatment plant, detected a backlog of COVID-19 cases in January 2023, several days before patient cases showed up in fitness labs, according to a bulletin recently issued by the department’s epidemiology section.
The information from the Anchorage plant is an example of how wastewater sampling has been used in several Alaskan communities to monitor the networked spread of COVID-19 and other contagious diseases such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
In Alaska, several communities, in addition to Anchorage, use wastewater sampling for this purpose and also to detect other diseases. The sites include Juneau, Fairbanks and Bethel. The trials are funded in part through the U. S. Centers for Disease Control. U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Anchorage is the only network in Alaska that is part of a national WastewaterSCAN network that can detect other pathogens, such as those that cause hepatitis and mpox. The rest is part of CDC’s national wastewater surveillance system.
In Betthel, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. began testing wastewater samples in October 2022 for viruses that cause COVID-19, influenza and RSV, according to the epidemiology bulletin. This surveillance has helped health officials plan their flu vaccinations and distribution of antiviral drugs to combat RSV, the bulletin says. In December, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. , with the help of the CDC, introduced a task to include tuberculosis and norovirus testing in its wastewater surveillance program, according to the bulletin.
The Department of Public Health is running to expand wastewater monitoring across the state as part of a strategy “to better prepare for future pandemics like COVID-19,” the bulletin said. The department plans to soon create an operational organization with wastewater managers, fitness officers, laboratories and other components, according to the bulletin.
There are specific demanding situations in Alaska, the report card notes. Many communities, for example, do not have centralized sewer systems. The geographical remoteness also presents logistical difficulties and high prices for sampling, transportation to the test site, and actual testing, the bulletin notes. “Another complication is the weather in Alaska, as snowmelt and rainwater can enter water systems that are being treated, mixing with pathogens from elsewhere,” the bulletin says.
Although it has become more widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater control as a disease surveillance strategy is not new. In the United States, this practice dates back to the 1930s, when scientists began examining wastewater for the presence of poliovirus. The documented use of this type of test likely dates back to the mid-1800s, when physician John Snow detected the bacteria that causes cholera in water at a fast water pump in London.
In addition to tracking the spread of disease, wastewater sampling can also be used to detect the use of opioids in the network.
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