Infectious diseases

Background: Within six weeks of the first case of COVID-19 in early Dec 2019 in Wuhan, China, the pandemic had already a foothold half-way around the world in Washington State, where the the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was confirmed on 20 Jan 2020 in a traveler returning from the index city.

I led a project with the Woodland Park Zoo’s Senior Conservation Scientist, Dr. Lisa Dabek, and Director of the UW Center for One Health Research, Dr. Peter Rabinowitz.

Wastewater surveillance has long been used to aid the global public health effort to eradicate poliovirus. More recently, wastewater surveillance has been implemented to help understand the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Shortly after it was discovered to be shed in stools, the virus was detected in sewage around the world.