Wastewater Surveillance
The Epidemiology Division is monitoring respiratory illnesses through wastewater data from the WastewaterSCAN dashboard. WastewasterSCAN is a program based at Stanford University that utilizes wastewater-based epidemiology to monitor infectious diseases through municipal wastewater systems. The program collects, processes, and analyzes wastewater solids collected from municipal wastewater plants across the United States, including 2 plants located in Montgomery County. Both wastewater plants are located in The Woodlands.
Wastewater-based epidemiology has become a widely accepted approach for comprehensive disease monitoring and has been used to inform public health responses at local, regional, and national levels. Wastewater surveillance allows us to monitor trends in virus circulation. This surveillance strategy is especially helpful for capturing information on infected individuals who may not have symptoms or individuals who are not sick enough to visit a doctor’s office. It is also valuable in that it is a non-invasive and a relatively low-cost tool that can provide information earlier than conventional monitoring.
The graphs below show trends of virus circulation for the previous six months. During the summer months, there was an increase in COVID-19 cases in hospitals across the county. This trend can be confirmed by the wastewater data. We also see isolated incidents of Influenza A, B and RSV which occurred during the summer months, but no general trend. We will continue to monitor these and other diseases as throughout the respiratory season, which falls October – May.
Additional data can be found at:
- DSHS Texas Respiratory Illness Interactive Dashboard: https://texas-respiratory-illness-dashboard-txdshsea.hub.arcgis.com/
- DSHS Weekly Viral Respiratory Surveillance Report: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/texas-respiratory-virus-surveillance-report
Additional information on respiratory viruses can be found at:
- DSHS Seasonal Respiratory: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/immunizations/what-we-do/vaccines/seasonal-respiratory
- CDC Respiratory Illnesses: https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/index.html