The past two years have taught epidemiologists a great deal about real-time surveillance of communicable diseases.
One of the lessons learned is that wastewater can tell a lot about a population.
So, in response to the covid-19 pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in September 2020.
The NWSS was created to coordinate and track the covid virus in sewage samples collected across the country.
“This allows sewage monitoring to serve as an early warning that COVID-19 is spreading in a community. Once health departments are aware, communities can act quickly to prevent the spread of COVID-19 “, states the CDC.
Wastewater monitoring can serve as an early warning system capable of detecting small changes in disease prevalence. Yale epidemiologists were able to detect poliovirus in sewer water during the polio epidemic in the summer of 1939.
“This virus can be transported, at least short distances, through sewage,” the Yale scientists concluded at the time.
In 2022, as covid began to take precedence over other public concerns, sewage monitoring is now providing the CDC with data on another potential outbreak that has led California and New York City to declare the ’emergency state.
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Monkeypox on the Strip
As of August 1, there were 23 probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox in Clark County, and the Southern Nevada Health District is looking through the poop to keep the situation under control.
“The good thing is that the monkeypox signal is relatively weak and comes from strategic manholes that service segments of the Las Vegas Strip and at least 1/15 sewage treatment plants,” the professor said. UNLV associate Dr. Edwin Oh at CBS8 in Las. Vegas.
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The UNLV surveillance program covers approximately 2.4 million people and this coverage should be able to detect if there is an increase in the incidence of the virus in the population.
The sewage studied comes from water coming from casinos and hotels located on the Strip and other places in the region.
People infected with monkeypox shed viral DNA through skin lesions, saliva, feces, and urine.
“Virus levels are currently low based on our readings, suggesting there is no high transmission in Las Vegas,” Oh said, according to Casino.org. “Because infected people (who may be asymptomatic or symptomatic) will clear the virus, the actual number of infected people may be higher than the reported numbers.
Monkeypox infection usually comes from skin-to-skin contact with an infected person and can also be transmitted through sexual contact. The virus is painful but only occasionally fatal.
Infections in major cities
Last week, San Francisco became the first major city to declare a public health emergency due to a growing number of monkeypox cases.
Over the weekend, New York City followed suit.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the five boroughs the “epicenter” of the nation’s monkeypox outbreak, saying up to 150,000 city residents could be at risk of exposure.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) issued a state disaster emergency that will allow additional health workers, including paramedics and midwives, to administer the vaccine.
Symptoms of monkeypox usually begin with a flu-like illness, followed by the appearance of rashes. Symptoms include: fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and chills, according to the SNHD.
The rash looks like pimples or fluid-filled blisters that may appear on the hands, feet, chest, face, genitals, or inside the body, including the mouth, vagina, or throat. ‘anus.
It often takes between seven and 14 days after exposure to develop symptoms. Monkeypox usually lasts between two and four weeks.