CDC collaborates with molecular diagnostics developer GT Molecular to create digital PCR assays as well as multiplex dPCR panels.
Jun 14, 2023 | Madeleine Johnson
NEW YORK – The US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention is moving forward on a planned expansion of the wastewater infectious disease surveillance efforts it pioneered during the pandemic.
Scaled up to surveil sewage from nearly half of the US population for SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the agency now plans to also track gastrointestinal, respiratory, and antimicrobial resistant pathogens through the rollout of two dozen digital PCR wastewater surveillance targets next year.
CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) is currently collaborating with molecular diagnostics developer GT Molecular to create the digital PCR assays, as well as multiplex dPCR panels. The goal is to make the assays available as methods and kits to partners in public health labs for testing.
NWSS was established in September 2020 to perform SARS-CoV-2 surveillance after studies demonstrated that trends in the viral concentration in wastewater could provide up to a two-week lead time on the peaks in clinical COVID-19 cases.
In the ensuing two and a half years, wastewater "has really become the leading indicator of what is going on in communities," said Amy Kirby, NWSS program lead.
NWSS is now working with more than 1,400 sites performing wastewater sampling and COVID testing, Kirby said. This is up from approximately 900 sites one year ago, and collectively represents more than 40 percent of the American public.
There is also now wastewater surveillance in all 50 states — compared to 37 states a year ago — as well as in three territories and 12 tribal communities.
