2024年1月3日， JJ米兰达, associate professor of biological sciences, 发表的新研究, 旁边的同事, in the American Society for Microbiology journal mSphere，标题为“Building-Level Wastewater Surveillance Localizes Interseasonal Influenza Variation.” The highly collaborative and multidisciplinary team included professor of environmental science 布莱恩Mailloux首席卫生官 玛丽娜Catallozzi, staff from the Office of 健康 and 健康, Office of Facilities 服务, and Department of 生物学, and five undergraduate students.
通过他们的研究, Miranda and his colleagues set out to detect the arrival and estimate the case magnitude of seasonal influenza in urban 纽约市 college dormitory buildings. Using wastewater-based surveillance the researchers measured viral RNA in the sewage outflow of three dormitories at Barnard in 2021 and 2022. They found that wastewater test positivity strongly correlated with both New York County and campus clinical cases, but that positive samples were not evenly distributed among buildings, meaning that wastewater surveillance can serve as a useful indicator of where exactly the flu is spreading within a localized environment.
Citing that the influenza virus remains a recurring threat to public health, and infects many populations annually, often with unpredictable magnitude and timing, Miranda and his colleagues assert the potential value of building-level wastewater surveillance in measuring influenza incidence to help guide public health intervention.