An increasing number of infectious diseases will be monitored from wastewater – THL registered UN water commitment
Wastewater monitoring has been an important tool in the monitoring of the COVID-19 situation and the COVID-19 variants circulating in the population. With the pandemic, wastewater monitoring methods developed and quickly became more common. The aim is now to extend the monitoring to apply to an increasing number of infectious diseases.
The WastPan project implemented by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Tampere University and the University of Helsinki currently develops wastewater monitoring for detecting several pathogenic microbes and the spread of antibiotic resistance occurring in them.
The aim is to enable its utilisation, for example, in monitoring the disease burden caused by influenza, RS virus and multiresistant bacteria in a nationally comprehensive way.
The project also takes into account preparedness for new communicable diseases and the health threats related to them.
Wastewater monitoring provides information that is otherwise not available
Wastewater monitoring helps to obtain information on local variation in the prevalence of the monitored infectious diseases almost in real time. Corresponding information is otherwise not available.
“Wastewater monitoring is now very actively introduced as an indicator of the population's health worldwide. Our work, which began in November 2020, is at the top of this development and we have collected extremely valuable monitoring data from Finland over two years,” says the director of the WastPan consortium, Chief Specialist Tarja Pitkänen from THL.
"Our results show that a very wide range of viral diseases can be monitored from wastewater," adds Sami Oikarinen, University Researcher at Tampere University and director of a sub-project of the WastPan consortium.
Based on discussions with the stakeholders of the project, it is obvious that the pathogens selected to the wastewater-based surveillance system of communicable diseases should be the ones on the spread of which the health authorities really need information and on which corresponding information is not available elsewhere.
Objectives are also being set for wastewater monitoring at the level of the EU. In addition, an international objective is to develop the wastewater monitoring of communicable diseases and antibiotic resistance especially in developing countries, where the standard of diagnostics and monitoring with other methods is inadequate.
“The situation with resistance is fairly good in Finland. As the methods are developing, wastewater monitoring can provide not only monitoring at the population level, but also an advance warning of new problematic pathogens resistant to microbial drugs,” says Assistant Professor Annamari Heikinheimo, leader of the WastPan sub-project at the University of Helsinki.
The main funder of the WastPan project is the Academy of Finland. The project has also been funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of the Environment, the National Emergency Supply Agency and the Water Utilities Development Fund. The Final Seminar of the project will be held in Helsinki on 26 October 2023.
The UN water commitment registered by THL concerns raising awareness of waterborne infectious diseases and wastewater surveillance
THL has registered a UN water commitment in which it commits itself to raising awareness of waterborne pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, and their prevention. The aim is to promote water safety and the human rights related to clean water and sanitation.
“The environmental surveillance of pathogens and making it part of other public health measures is part of the work to prevent infections,” Pitkänen says.
The UN water commitment was made in cooperation with the members of the WastPan consortium and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
Additional information
Wastewater-based surveillance as pandemic preparedness tool (WastPan)
Advance registration for the WastPan Final Seminal on 26 October
UN water commitment registered by THL
Tarja Pitkänen
Chief Specialist
THL
tel. +358 29 524 6315
[email protected]
Sami Oikarinen
University Researcher
Tampere University
tel. +358 50 328 1500
[email protected]
Annamari Heikinheimo
Assistant Professor
University of Helsinki
tel. +358 29 415 7106
[email protected]
