Surveillance of Health-Relevant Pathogens Employing Wastewater

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 522

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, Italy
Interests: wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES); SARS-CoV-2; public health; COVID-19 pandemic; pathogen monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Interests: critical care medicine; infectious diseases; telemedicine; digital transformation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to introduce the second edition of our Special Issue “Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 Employing Wastewater” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/microorganisms/special_issues/EZWTO53D8J), now entitled "Surveillance of Health-Relevant Pathogens Employing Wastewater". Building on the success of the initial edition focused on SARS-CoV-2, this edition broadens the scope to capture the evolving landscape of Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance (WES), particularly its application in monitoring emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as we move into 2025 and beyond.

Wastewater has become a potent source of information, not just for public health, but also for significant economic sectors such as hospitals, aviation, tourism, and agriculture. The encoded data in wastewater offers early insights into pathogen prevalence, for instance, empowering healthcare facilities with timely intervention strategies and aiding in the design of effective infection control protocols. In the aviation and tourism industries, understanding regional pathogen dynamics enables the establishment of informed policies to safeguard the health of travellers. Similarly, in agriculture, insights gleaned from surveillance can inform practices related to livestock management and food safety, as well as addressing concerns associated with AMR.

This Special Issue delves into the advancements in WES that have enabled such comprehensive applications. It emphasizes the progression of health sector leadership, ethical practices, and the integration of wastewater data into broader public health and economic frameworks. By covering key aspects such as sampling, storage, laboratory analysis, data normalization, and communication, this edition underscores the vital role WES plays in enhancing global health security.

By synthesizing the various applications and opportunities offered by wastewater surveillance, this edition aims to illustrate its expanding influence on health preparedness and its potential to safeguard economically relevant sectors against emerging health threats. We look forward to exploring these dimensions with you.

Dr. Bernd Manfred Gawlik
Prof. Dr. Gernot Marx
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES)
  • emerging pathogens
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • public health
  • pathogen monitoring
  • global health security

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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13 pages, 557 KB  
Article
Uncovering DENV, CHIKV, and ZIKV in Urban Wastewater in Brazil Through Genomic and Molecular Screening
by Juliana Calabria de Araujo, Ana Paula A. Carvalho, Talita Adelino, Felipe Campos M. Iani, Natalia Rocha Guimaraes, Sara Candida F. Santos, Cintia D. Leal, Manuelle Natividade, Mauricio Lima, Mariana Almada, Ana Carolina Bertuce, Augusto Guerra, Maria Cristina M. Costa, Flavia Saia, Vagner Fonseca, Marta Giovanetti, Livia V. Frutuoso and Luiz Carlos Junior Alcantara
Microorganisms 2025, 13(9), 2164; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13092164 - 17 Sep 2025
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Abstract
This study evaluated and compared molecular methods (Whole Genome Sequencing-WGS, MinION, and RT-qPCR) for the detection of arboviruses Dengue (DENV), Chikungunya (CHIKV), and Zika (ZIKV) in 63 hospital and municipal wastewater samples collected from July 2022 to May 2023 in the region of [...] Read more.
This study evaluated and compared molecular methods (Whole Genome Sequencing-WGS, MinION, and RT-qPCR) for the detection of arboviruses Dengue (DENV), Chikungunya (CHIKV), and Zika (ZIKV) in 63 hospital and municipal wastewater samples collected from July 2022 to May 2023 in the region of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Detection rates varied substantially across the methods (WGS, MinION, and RT-qPCR). DENV was identified in 24% (15/63) of samples using a hybrid capture method of WGS and MinION sequencing and in 66.6% (20/30) using only WGS but was not detected using the CDC Trioplex RT-PCR Assay Kit or ZDC (IBMP). CHIKV was detected in 19.0% (12/63) of the samples by WGS and MinION and in 85.7% (12/14) using only MinION sequencing. Using the RT-qPCR kit to detect CHIKV yielded a rate of 4.7% (3/63) in false positives. ZIKV was found in only one sample (1/63) by WGS, while RT-qPCR yielded a high false positive rate (65.1%, 41/63). These findings highlight the operational advantage of these methods (WGS and MinION) for enhancing early-warning surveillance where standard RT-qPCR might underperform in low-prevalence settings. This is the first study that has compared these methods to detect and genetically characterize DENV, CHICK, and ZIKV in wastewater in Brazil and has indicated that hospital wastewater can be used as a sentinel system for arbovirus surveillance. The relative effectiveness of genomic wastewater surveillance for arboviruses was demonstrated, and it was found that diagnostic RT-qPCR kits used for clinical samples were not directly suitable for environmental surveillance. The feasibility of arbovirus wastewater surveillance as an epidemiological tool was demonstrated, although absolute quantifications were not performed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surveillance of Health-Relevant Pathogens Employing Wastewater)
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