Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Bode, Barrie P.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

Wastewater based epidemiology is a fast growing and practical solution to monitor the spread of disease within a population. As the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the world to a standstill, methods to monitor its spread and prepare appropriate responses became vital to begin the return to normalcy. Such was the case in universities around the world where the campus and surrounding community were vital in fulfilling the educational mission in the face of a generational health crisis. The population in a midsize higher educational institute such as Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a broad mix of on-campus and off campus students, faculty, and staff. The neighboring communities also play a key role as reservoirs and vectors in the spread of pathogens within the campus. Establishing a wastewater surveillance laboratory to monitor and report SARS-CoV-2 viral levels in the wastewater was critical for resuming the mission of the university and providing necessary protection for students, staff, and faculty. Since the spring of 2021, in partnership with the Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District (KWRD), NIU has been regularly monitoring and reporting wastewater viral levels on a public facing dashboard; since then, the wastewater surveillance testing (WST) laboratory has expanded to building level surveillance, adopted high throughout methods and successfully sequenced the SARS-CoV-2 genome for variants. As the post-pandemic chapter begins, NIU has successfully tested a variety of pathogens that can pose a threat to the health and well-being of the campus and community. This thesis aims to bring to light the science behind establishing an initial community level WST laboratory, expansion of surveillance sites and processing capabilities of the laboratory, and exploration of pathogens beyond SARS-CoV-2, where wastewater surveillance can be used as a primary tool for pandemic preparedness and public health epidemiology. With the enormously dynamic nature of wastewater, myriad protocols and methods have been suggested by the WST community to best measure viral loads in a sample. This thesis explores a variety of those suggested paths for biomass concentration, nucleic acid extraction, RT-qPCR analysis and Next-Generation Sequencing based typing of current prevailing variants. Proof-of-concept for the utility of a WST program is also provided through the longitudinal monitoring of documented waves of SARS-CoV-2 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extent

72 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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