Public Health Benefits and Ethical Aspects in the Collection and Open Sharing of Wastewater-Based Epidemic Data on COVID-19

Abstract

Collection and open sharing of wastewater-based epidemic data potentially provide immense public health benefits during outbreak of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. By early detection and localization of unidentified infections, wastewater surveillance is expected to enable early and targeted containment of the local outbreak. Wastewater surveillance renders potentially high public health benefits when a small catchment is targeted;however, it possibly leads to stigmatization and discrimination against the targeted group. Therefore, public commitment is crucial for the collection and open sharing of wastewater-based epidemic data. With respect to the sharing of wastewater-based epidemic data, technical limitations and uncertainty of collected data also should be simultaneously shared on the basis of scientific communication. Useful application of wastewater-based epidemic data is to complement clinical epidemic data, which is possibly biased and overlooks unidentified infections. To acquire public commitment toward the collection and open sharing of wastewater-based epidemic data, stakeholders need to reach a consensus on possible options of restrictive measures taken with respect to the collected data as well as appropriate handling of the collected data to prevent stigmatization and discrimination. © 2021 The Author(s).