Environmental surveillance:
ICMR announced a plan to start wastewater surveillance for 10 viruses across 50 Indian cities, expanding India’s disease monitoring system.
- Environmental surveillance is the monitoring of pathogens (viruses, bacteria, parasites) in environmental samples like sewage, wastewater, soil, and air.
- It supplements traditional clinical case detection by identifying hidden and asymptomatic infections in communities.
- Samples are drawn from sewage plants, hospitals, airports, and public spaces, ensuring wide coverage of community health indicators.
- Tests identify viruses, bacteria, and parasites shed in stools, urine, or respiratory secretions, revealing hidden infections.
- Whole-genome sequencing helps track mutations and emerging variants, crucial for pandemic preparedness.
- Daily pathogen load analysis provides trends of spread, offering advance notice of rising infections in populations.
