Conference Agenda
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Daily Overview |
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CP17.2: Epidemiology & Diagnostics 5 min talks Location: Lecture Theatre 3 Session Chair: Deepani Fernando, QIMR Berghofer Session Chair: Luke Hall, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney | |
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Validation of a Wastewater Surveillance Protocol for Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Intestinal Protozoan Parasites 1: Public Health and Tropical Medicine, College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia; 2: Environmental Health, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, South Australia; 3: Veterinary Science, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia Intestinal parasitic diseases remain a significant public health burden globally. There is an increasing need for a versatile, sensitive, and cost-effective mechanism for near-elimination and post-elimination surveillance systems for population-wide. Traditional faecal sampling from individuals across large populations is expensive, intrusive, and impractical. Wastewater-based epidemiology is a population-level surveillance tool. A series of multiplex qPCRs was chosen to detect common parasites of public health importance. Limits of detection and specificity for human-infecting species were determined. Influent wastewater from an urban treatment plant was spiked with a known concentration of cysts, eggs, and larvae of the target parasites (Giardia duodenalis, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Necator americanus) and processed using three concentration protocols. DNA was extracted using Powersoil Pro (Qiagen) kits, and four Taqman multiplex qPCRs were performed, including human DNA and internal amplification control targets. The diagnostic qPCRs chosen demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity. Wastewater application of the multiplex was successful. Initial results indicate that centrifugation or sieve selection prior to DNA extraction was necessary to detect parasitic DNA in wastewater samples. Processing raw wastewater or wastewater sediments proved ineffective. This work establishes a methodological basis for implementing wastewater-based population-level surveillance for soil-transmitted helminths and intestinal protozoa. | |