Network of treatment plants monitors diseases

WAPAKONETA - A new method of disease monitoring might come from an unexpected place - wastewater.

Wastewater disease monitoring rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Natalie Hicks, Auglaize County Health Department's emergency response coordinator and epidemiologist.

Hicks at Tuesday's board of health meeting explained that wastewater surveillance systems collect samples of untreated municipal wastewater that are then analyzed for the presence of biomarkers of infection, usually DNA.

"It provides real time data for disease trends and even early warnings of new variants or strains of a disease," Hicks said. "People with infections … shed pieces of the virus when they use the bathroom, they shower, they wash their hands, they wash their clothes. They're shedding virus, even when they're not symptomatic, even when they're not sick."

Pieces of the disease travel through sewage systems and ultimately end up at wastewater treatment plants, she said. Water samples are typically sent to a lab for analysis.

"That data is being used to track these trends, to anticipate how disease might spread across the United States and have a better understanding of what we're seeing in our communities," Hicks said. "Wastewater data is especially useful for something like COVID because not everyone is symptomatic, and not everyone is sick enough to go to the hospital."

Hicks noted the health department is connected to the Ohio Wastewater Monitoring Network, a collaborative effort between multiple state agencies created in 2020 to track COVID. She said she's been amazed at some of the data the network has been able to compile.

"In the summer of 2023, with wastewater monitoring, one individual was identified who was still shedding the original variant of COVID. So that means they've been shedding COVID for nearly two years," Hicks said. "They were at least able to identify there is a component of long COVID, there is something that says 'you can shed COVID for two plus years."

There are two wastewater treatment plants in the region that are a part of the Ohio Wastewater Monitoring Network, according to Hicks. The Coldwater treatment plant is the closest, and the Lima wastewater treatment plant is also part of the network.

The surveillance method excels at tracking COVID, especially now that tests are not required and many people are asymptomatic. Hicks said it would be interesting to use the method to track other diseases.

"There are tons of useful and awesome things that wastewater monitoring data can do," she said.

In other business, nursing director Jessica Whetstone reported there were five influenza related hospitalizations in Auglaize County in December.

Whetstone said all five had cases of influenza A. The patients ranged in age from 3 to 86, she said. She reminded residents to get their flu shot and to follow good personal hygiene habits such as hand washing to prevent the spread of the flu.

Board members also approved a certificate of estimated resources and permanent appropriations. Health commissioner Oliver Fisher said the health department's revenue is projected at $2.78 million while appropriations are estimated at $2.759 million.

The board of health meets next at 8:30 a.m. in the board conference room at the health department in Wapakoneta.