Wastewater Mobility and Epidemiology
Use case
Population-level health in a single analysis
A tool with enormous epidemiological potential
Wastewater epidemiology is a discipline that studies the presence and concentration of various biomarkers, such as viruses, bacteria, drugs and other chemical compounds in the wastewater. This allows public health surveillance by providing a global and continuous view of the health status of a population without the need for individual testing. It even allows early detection of disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19, even before the first clinic cases have been reported.
In this context, the mobility of people can significantly influence the distribution and concentration of pollutants in different areas of a city. If not considered, the identification of exposure sources can be biassed according to the movement patterns of those affected. Therefore, the mobility data integration is crucial to understand the dynamics of quantified biomarkers in wastewater. However, integrating data from different sources represents a scientific and technical challenge.
Creating a precise and open system
To explore the full potential of wastewater epidemiology
The MePreCiSa platform provides a solution to the problem of mobility and wastewater data integration and analysis. This will be demonstrated through a pilot study on COVID-19.
The objective is to provide a simple, efficient and robust tool for the early detection of disease outbreaks and the design of localised interventions in the highest risk areas, optimising the distribution of limited resources such as medical personnel and vaccines.
