Departmental Seminar on 08.04.2026

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is rapidly transforming infectious disease surveillance by enabling population-level detection independent of clinical testing. This seminar presents WBE as a scalable, cost-effective framework for monitoring multiple pathogens, including COVID-19, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Influenza, and Polio. By integrating optimized sampling strategies with molecular and genomic analyses, wastewater signals can capture infection dynamics in near real time, often preceding clinical case reporting. Composite sampling enhances detection sensitivity, particularly in small catchments, while sequencing approaches enable tracking of variants and transmission patterns. WBE offers an unbiased, community-wide lens for simultaneous multi-pathogen surveillance, supporting early warning systems, targeted interventions, and more resilient public health responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.