ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
Utilization of SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance in Africa-A Rapid Review.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Pathogen Detection in Wastewater in Africa, with Focus on Rwanda: Implications for Early Warning and Public Health Surveillance.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence and Molecular Epidemiology of Human Coronaviruses in Africa Prior to the SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak: A Systematic Review.Viruses · 2023Pooled it
- Environmental surveillance of pathogens in Africa.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Review
- Long-term wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2: a 5.5-year study reveals correlation with public health indicators and early warning potential during and after the pandemic.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Cost-effectiveness of wastewater-based environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in Blantyre, Malawi and Kathmandu, Nepal: A model-based study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Changes to Public Health Surveillance Methods Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Wastewater metagenomics in Africa: Opportunities and challenges.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Environmental surveillance for COVID-19 using SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration in wastewater - a study in District East, Karachi, Pakistan.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2024Article
- Article
- Utilizing river and wastewater as a SARS-CoV-2 surveillance tool in settings with limited formal sewage systems.Nature communications · 2023Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Burden in Wastewater and its Elimination Using Disinfection.Microbiology insights · 2023Review
- Advances in virus detection methods for wastewater-based epidemiological applications.Case studies in chemical and environmental engineering · 2022Article
- Passive sampling to scale wastewater surveillance of infectious disease: Lessons learned from COVID-19.The Science of the total environment · 2022Review
- Cost of wastewater-based environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2: Evidence from pilot sites in Blantyre, Malawi and Kathmandu, Nepal.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in wastewater is desirable for understanding COVID-19 in settings where financial resources and diagnostic facilities for mass individual testing are severely limited. We conducted a rapid review to map research evidence on the utilization of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance in Africa. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization library databases for relevant reports, reviews, and primary observational studies. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Narrative synthesis of the findings from included primary studies revealed the testing methodologies utilized and that detected amount of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA correlated with the number of new cases in the studied areas. The included reviews revealed the epidemiological significance and environmental risks of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater. Wastewater surveillance data at the community level can be leveraged for the rapid assessment of emerging threats and aid pandemic preparedness. Our rapid review revealed a glaring gap in the primary literature on SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance on the continent, and accelerated and adequate investment into research is urgently needed to address this gap.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.