Progresses in viral detection technologies for wastewater-based epidemiology

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a powerful surveillance tool used to assess public health by tracking infectious materials shed into sewage systems by infected hosts. To enable a widespread implementation of WBE, advanced analytical technologies are required for timely, efficient, and accurate detection of the viruses from the complex water matrix. This review discusses key advancements in molecular methods and biosensors demonstrated on wastewater samples that largely enhance wastewater surveillance, including improved sensitivity, enhanced portability, shortened turnover time, integration with wastewater sample treatment, multiplexing ability, and the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML). We also compare the analytical performance of these advanced methods, their advantages, current challenges, and future direction on how they can better enable wastewater surveillance via efficient detection of targeted and emerging/untargeted viruses from wastewater.