Population Health

February 23, 2021

New research identifies COVID-19 through wastewater testing

Image of an access cover to the sewerNew from the 91探花 Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences demonstrates the efficacy of skimmed-milk flocculation for rapidly detecting COVID-19 outbreaks through wastewater.

The process involves adding skim milk to raw wastewater; through this concoction, researchers can isolate and detect viral RNA.

The environmental surveillance research was supported by the Population Health Initiative鈥檚 COVID-19 rapid response grants and holds the potential to serve as an early-warning system for COVID-19 detection.