 |
 |
Search | |
Vol.41 No.3 contents | Japanese/English |
 |
Full Text of PDF (1,822K) Article in Japanese |
Wastewater Surveillance as a Mirror of Hidden Epidemics: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and Hospital Infection Control
Nobuhisa ISHIGURO1), Michio MURAKAMI2)3), Keisuke KAGAMI4), Toshihiro HAMADA5) and Masaaki KITAJIMA2)6)
1)Department of Internal Medicine, Jikeikai Hospital, 2)Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), The University of Osaka, 3)EIPM Center, The University of Osaka, 4)Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Hokkaido University Hospital, 5)Project Promotion Department, Sewerage & Rivers Bureau, City of Sapporo, 6)Research Center for Water Environment Technology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Even after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reclassified as a Category 5 infectious disease, the risk of severe illness remains high among older adults and individuals with underlying conditions. Therefore, continuous monitoring of infection trends in both communities and healthcare facilities is essential. While surveillance based on sentinel reporting and clinical testing is influenced by healthcare-seeking behavior and testing volume, wastewater surveillance has gained attention as an approach capable of reflecting a community's overall infection status, including asymptomatic individuals and symptomatic individuals who did not seek medical care. The association between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater in the city of Sapporo and the number of COVID-19 cases in medical institutions, as well as the occurrence of nosocomial infections, was analyzed. The results showed that SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater accurately reflected the number of infected individuals in medical institutions and were associated with the incidence of nosocomial infections and the extent of their spread. These findings suggest that collaboration among municipalities, medical institutions, and research organizations may facilitate the development of a wastewater-based infectious disease surveillance system.
Key words：SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, wastewater surveillance, nosocomial infection
e-mail: nisgr＠mrj.biglobe.ne.jp
Received: January 5, 2026
Accepted: January 21, 2026
41 (3)：120─129,2026
 |
| Copyright © 2003 Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control All rights reserved. |