Health

Why researchers are using wastewater to better understand diseases like monkeypox

September 20, 2022

NEW Fox News articles can now be heard on audio! First, COVID-19 was responsible for sending some Las Vegas scientists to the sewers.
It is now monkeypox.
It turns out that what we flush down the toilet can reveal a lot about the spread of diseases in a community.
Because of this, scientists at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas were aware of the virus’s prevalence before the health authority.

COVID-19 CAN BE DETECTED IN WASTEWATER BY SCIENTISTS WEEKS PRIOR TO ANYONE TESTING POSITIVE

University of Nevada-Las Vegas student scientists can detect monkeypox and other diseases through human waste.

Before any cases of the Omicron variety of coronavirus were formally reported in the region, they were among the first in the country to examine human waste in order to find cases.

Monkeypox is being spread once more, with more than 14,000 cases reported nationally.

Human waste can tell a lot about what diseases are present in a community. Las Vegas scientists are using wastewater to detect monkeypox.

They were the second medical school in the US, after San Francisco, to use a wastewater surveillance program to find monkeypox, according to Dr. Edwin Oh, an associate professor at the UNLV School of Medicine.

According to Dr. Oh, “we’re seeing about three to 17 days in which an individual may be asymptomatic.” “During this period, we won’t be able to see any lesions on anyone. But we’ll be able to find the virus in the wastewater when we look there.”

IS THE MONKEYPOX GOING TO BECOME AN “ESTABLISHED STD”? WHY ONE INTACT DISEASE SPECIALIST HOLDS THIS VIEW

The UNLV wastewater surveillance program is led by Dr. Oh.
He focuses on places where there may be a lot of people, like schools, bars, shelters, and hotels, along with his students.
They take samples from the sewers using an automated machine.
They return to the lab for analysis after that.
It’s important to start having this conversation right away rather than waiting until there are 70,000 or 7,000,000 infections before taking action.

Las Vegas scientists collect samples of wastewater to study the presence of monkeypox in the area.

Throughout the coming month, the virus is anticipated to spread more widely in the Las Vegas region.

In that there is an infectious condition that is circulating, Dr. Oh noted, “We have had this sense of deja vu again with COVID-19.” “We don’t know a lot about it, but with a tool like this, we can at least track where this virus might be emerging in different areas,” a researcher said.