Wastewater-based epidemiology, a tool to bridge biomarkers of exposure, contaminants, and human health

RNA in Municipal Wastewater Reveals Magnitudes of COVID-19 Outbreaks across Four Waves Driven by SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern

“… 12 Regardless of delays in WS data, lag or lead time of WS is determined by the onset, magnitude, and duration of shedding of virus particles, asymptomatic cases that are still actively shedding virus particles, and false negative and positive determinations, among others. 49 − 51 There are also biases and inaccuracies in clinical measures due to the timing or capacities of laboratories and the timing of releases of data, but it is also governed by the timing of the onset of symptoms as well as the willingness of persons to be tested. 7 , 20 , 55 − 57 …”

Identification of biomarkers in wastewater-based epidemiology: Main approaches and analytical methods

“…This approach requires the study of the human metabolism, identification of the substances excreted by urine, selection of those representative excreted in a high percentage, development of an analytical method able to determine them, study of their stability in wastewater and then, finally their assessment in wastewater. There are many remarkable and well conducted reviews that treat the topic of potential biomarkers to be used in the WBE for different estimations [ 15 , [24] , [25] , [26] ]. These reviews categorized biomarkers depending a little bit on the authors criterion but in all cases consumption, exposure, health/disease and lifestyle/consumption are main drivers of these classifications.…”

“…As can be deduced from the previous paragraphs, WBE is completely multidisciplinary, including analysts, epidemiologists, microbiologists, sociologists, chemical engineers, economists, health specialists, etc. [ 24 ]. However, it is also true that it has a very strong analytical component, which we consider relevant and of special interest for the topic covered by this journal [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Mass Spectrometry in Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for the Determination of Small and Large Molecules as Biomarkers of Exposure: Toward a Global View of Environment and Human Health under the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…4 Most of the research efforts of WBE are concentrated in Europe. Originally, determining the population-wide use or misuse of illicit or therapeutic drugs, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, tobacco and alcohol use, pesticide exposure, 5 genetic biomarkers, 6 etc. was the main target of WBE.…”