Wastewater-based surveillance as pandemic preparedness tool (WastPan)

Duration:

1.11.2020–31.10.2023

Unit at THL:

Expert Microbiology Unit

On other websites:

Extranet (limited access)

WastPan develops preparedness tools for environmental surveillance of infectious agents and antimicrobial resistance circulating in the communities.
Wastewater-based surveillance as pandemic preparedness tool (WastPan portal)

Wastewater process.

Objectives

The aim of the consortium research is to integrate wastewater-based surveillance of communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance into the national pandemic preparedness. The specific objectives are to:

Establish the detection and quantification methodology for clinically relevant pathogens and MDR bacteria in community wastewater
Identify the existing temporal trends and geographical distribution of communicable disease agents in community wastewater
Examine the potential of studying metagenome content of wastewater to reveal emerging trends in communicable disease prevalence, and
Develop a platform to support the open sharing and utilization environmental data to enable wastewater-based epidemiology.

Implementation

We explore wastewater samples, their environmental metagenome including viral compartment as well as the genomes of microbial strains to gather population level information about the wastewater-shed infectious agents. As a result, we will elaborate science-based recommendations and strategies for wastewater-based surveillance that ensure preparedness to detect any alarming trends in wastewater-shed microbial hazards at local and national levels.

Partners

University of Helsinki
Tampere university

Funding

Academy of Finland
WastPan is a part of the Academy programme “Pandemics and other crises – responses and preparedness (2021 – 2023)”. More information on the programme and the funded projects are found at Pandemics and Other Crises – Response and Preparedness (RESILIENCE) 2021–2023.
Finnish Water Utilities Development Fund
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Ministry of Environment
National Emergency Supply Agency