Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

Study Led by Public Health Professor David Larsen Says Wastewater Testing Expected to Work for Most Infectious Diseases

Monday, October 17, 2022, By Matt Michael
Share
Falk College of Sport and Human DynamicsResearch and Creative

Wastewater surveillance of infectious diseases is expected to work for just about every infectious disease that affects humans, including monkeypox and polio. But more research is needed to apply the science for public health benefit, according to a research team led by epidemiologist David Larsen from Syracuse University.

The team’s work published Oct. 13 in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined all peer-reviewed scientific articles of wastewater surveillance published through July 2020. The team identified a variety of pathogens that can be found in wastewater, including almost all infectious diseases that the World Health Organization has classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) such as Ebola virus and Zika virus.

David Larsen

Epidemiologist David Larsen, an assistant professor of public health in the Falk College, led an interdisciplinary team of experts in coordination with the New York Department of Health to create a wastewater surveillance system throughout New York State.

But despite this positive finding, few studies relate what is found in the wastewater to public health and the amount of disease that is circulating.

“Testing the wastewater is only one component of this powerful science,” says Larsen, an associate professor of public health in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. “Understanding the results and implications for public health is just as challenging. We need interdisciplinary teams working together to maximize the benefit of wastewater-based epidemiology.”

Wastewater-based epidemiology is the science of taking what is found in wastewater and using that information to understand population-level health trends. Most of the articles reviewed by Larsen and his colleagues looked at what they could find in the wastewater and omitted the second step of relating the findings to other measures of population-level health, such as numbers of cases, test positivity, or hospitalizations.

Wastewater-based epidemiology of COVID-19 has enjoyed substantial availability of clinical COVID-19 data, and results from wastewater surveillance are more easily understood in terms of COVID-19 transmission. However, the research team determined that more work is needed to be done for other pathogens, including monkeypox and polio, to increase the utility of wastewater surveillance to benefit public health.

At the outset of COVID in 2020, Larsen led an interdisciplinary team of experts in coordination with the New York Department of Health to create a wastewater surveillance system throughout New York State. Today, the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network is testing for COVID in at least one wastewater treatment plan in 60 counties, covering a population of more than 15 million. The New York State Wastewater Surveillance Network dashboard provides the most recent statistics regarding the network.

Pruthvi Kilaru holds up a wastewater sample from Syracuse's own wastewater surveillance program monitoring residence halls for the presence of COVID-19

Pruthvi Kilaru, a former project manager for wastewater surveillance at Syracuse University, holds a wastewater sample from Syracuse’s surveillance program monitoring residence halls for the presence of COVID-19.

“New York State’s wastewater surveillance network is continuing to provide estimates of COVID-19 transmission and has aided the response to polio and monkeypox,” Larsen says. “We are also working on modeling other seasonal infectious diseases in the future.”

The research team for the American Journal of Epidemiology study included Larsen; Pruthvi Kilaru, a medical student at Des Moines University and former project manager for wastewater surveillance at Syracuse University; Kathryn Anderson, assistant professor of medicine and assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Upstate Medical Center and the new health commissioner for Onondaga County in New York State; Mary B. Collins, assistant professor of environmental studies at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF); Hyatt Green, assistant professor of environmental biology at SUNY ESF; and Brittany Kmush, associate professor of public health in the Falk College.

  • Author

Matt Michael

  • Recent
  • Students Engaged in Research and Assessment
    Tuesday, May 20, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse Views Summer 2025
    Monday, May 19, 2025, By News Staff
  • Awards Recognize Success of Assessment Through Engagement and Collaboration
    Monday, May 19, 2025, By News Staff
  • Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
    Sunday, May 18, 2025, By Alex Dunbar
  • ’Cuse Collections Items Donated to Community Through Local Organizations
    Sunday, May 18, 2025, By Lydia Krayenhagen

More In Health & Society

Studying and Reversing the Damaging Effects of Pollution and Acid Rain With Charles Driscoll (Podcast)

Before Charles Driscoll came to Syracuse University as a civil and environmental engineering professor, he had always been interested in ways to protect our environment and natural resources. Growing up an avid camper and outdoors enthusiast, Driscoll set about studying…

Major League Soccer’s Meteoric Rise: From Underdog to Global Contender

With the 30th anniversary of Major League Soccer (MLS) fast approaching, it’s obvious MLS has come a long way from its modest beginning in 1996. Once considered an underdog in the American sports landscape, the league has grown into a…

Rebekah Lewis Named Director of Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is pleased to announce that Rebekah Lewis is the new director of the Maxwell-based Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She joined the Maxwell School as a faculty fellow…

Maxwell Hall Foyer Home to Traveling Exhibition ‘Picturing the Pandemic’ Until May 15

Five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic upended daily lives across the globe, changing how we learned, how we shopped and how we interacted with each other. Over the following two years, the virus caused the deaths of several million people,…

Maxwell Alumnus Joins California Wildfire Relief Efforts

In mid-January, days after the devastating Eaton Fire began in Los Angeles County, California, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs alumnus Zayn Aga ’21 joined colleagues from the office of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu at a nearby donation drive…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.