Near-source wastewater surveillance as a non-invasive tool for disease detection in prisons.

ABSTRACT: Near-source wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) offers a non-intrusive alternative to clinical testing of whole prison populations. Prisons sit at the centre of high transmission risk but experience limited health-care access and barriers to testing individual prisoners. However, the use of WBE for health protection in prison settings has been limited. To assess its merit during the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were quantified in 680 composite wastewater samples collected from 14 prisons across England and Wales between January and June 2021. Viral RNA was detected in 48% of samples, and wastewater viral loads were found to closely mirror clinical case numbers Lead-lag analysis with adjacent municipal wastewater samples indicated a bidirectional flow between the prisons

SUBMITTER: O'Mara O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12917126 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature