An innovative outbreak detection program that tracks disease-causing viruses in wastewater identified the measles virus in Houston samples collected in early January 2025, before cases were reported.
An innovative outbreak detection program that tracks disease-causing viruses in wastewater identified the measles virus in Houston samples collected in early January 2025, before cases were reported. The team that developed the program, which includes researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the School of Public Health at University of Texas Health Science Center – Houston, the Houston Health Department and Rice University, published their findings in the American Journal of Public Health.
The researchers detected the virus in wastewater using a sequencing-based approach, a highly sensitive and specific method that analyzes genetic material. This strategy might have broad implications for public health, particularly as a sentinel surveillance system to detect viruses before widespread outbreaks occur. The findings are relevant and timely as measles cases are increasing in Texas and the rest of the country and the study offers a promising strategy to get ahead of potential outbreaks.
“In 2023, we showed that systematically sequencing the genetic material in wastewater reveals dynamic changes in human viruses circulating in a community. Importantly, analyzing these viral changes in wastewater can improve our understanding of outbreaks and transmission and inform public health preparedness, just as one uses meteorological data to better understand and predict weather patterns to anticipate potentially dangerous conditions,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Anthony Maresso, Joseph Melnick Endowed Chair and Professor in Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor.
Read more at Baylor College of Medicine
