The University of Arizona’s Yuma Center for Excellence for Desert Agriculture led the nation in using wastewater to monitor community COVID-19 transmission at the height of the pandemic. But the technology didn’t end there.Today, researchers at the center are using human wastewater to track a dangerous fungal outbreak you might have heard of lately: Candida aura.And from
Wastewater-based epidemiology's potential was brought to bear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it could help public health officials get ahead of the drug-resistant fungus Candida auris.
The University of Arizona COVID-19 Early Warning Sewage Testing Project detected increased levels of the coronavirus in wastewater testing sites around Yuma County at the end of March. Researchers say the elevated levels mean the public shouldn t be worried, but health officials should stay alert.
“SARS-CoV-2 is still here; it’s still relevant; it’s still transmitting. Know that and be confident that you can take the right public health measures to keep yourself and the community safe, said Bradley Schmitz, a visiting researcher at the university’s Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture.
The testing in Yuma is the same surveillance system that the university used to test the wastewater at the dorms, Schmitz said. They have multiple collection sites across Yuma to easily detected which region in the county has coronavirus in their sewage water. After the results are collected, researchers alert city officials about the possible presence of the virus, who will