Long-term wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2: a 5.5-year study reveals correlation with public health indicators and early warning potential during and after the pandemic
Frontiers in Microbiology·
- DOI
- 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1854041
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7203705003
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Sustained environmental tracking may offer supplementary insights for anticipating healthcare resource requirements and monitoring ongoing respiratory pathogen circulation.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
Evaluates whether prolonged environmental monitoring can reliably track viral dynamics and forecast public health trends across shifting epidemic phases.
Study design
A longitudinal observational analysis covering sixty-five months of biweekly municipal wastewater testing utilizing digital PCR quantification.
Population and setting
A densely populated urban region in southern France encompassing roughly four hundred fifty thousand individuals.
Main findings
Environmental viral concentrations maintained steady alignment with regional case counts and emergency care utilization. Active pandemic signals typically preceded clinical admissions by approximately one to two weeks and fatalities by nearly a month. Predictive accuracy demonstrated fluctuations tied to circulating strains, immunization coverage, and distinct outbreak periods, while maintaining utility as a transmission proxy after peak crisis phases.
Public-health relevance
Sustained environmental tracking may offer supplementary insights for anticipating healthcare resource requirements and monitoring ongoing respiratory pathogen circulation.
Important limitations
Forecasting precision and statistical alignment exhibited variability dependent on evolving viral lineages, demographic immunity levels, and distinct epidemiological stages.
GIDS interpretation
This record documents extended monitoring capabilities and illustrates how historical environmental datasets reflect broader shifts in pathogen behavior and public health responses.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 10 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.