Nebraska Lecture: Wastewater-based epidemiology key to tracking disease

In her Nebraska Lecture, presented Nov. 9, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt showed how the birth of modern epidemiology in 1854 inspired her during the COVID-19 pandemic to develop wastewater-based tracking that helped document the spread of diseases.

A research team led by Bartelt-Hunt found that samples of wastewater from sewer systems provided key information about the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community. Working with partners including the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and public utilities, UNL researchers established the Nebraska Wastewater Surveillance System, which now covers about 70% of Nebraska’s population with twice-weekly samplings.

This information, Bartelt-Hunt said, could play a key role in helping public health officials better allocate resources for a variety of diseases, from potential future pandemics to seasonal influenza.