ArticleCommunications medicine2025
Post-recovery viral shedding shapes wastewater-based epidemiological inferences.
Article in Communications medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Toward a quality-managed operational architecture for wastewater surveillance of zoonotic and emerging pathogens.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Review
- An integrated framework for early detection and transmissibility assessment of emerging variants in wastewater.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2026Article
- Temporal dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater and population infection trends in Mexico City.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe prolonged viral shedding from the gastrointestinal tract is well documented for numerous pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. However, the impact of prolonged viral shedding on epidemiological inferences using wastewater data is not yet fully understood.
methodsTo gain a better understanding of this phenomenon at the population level, we extended a wastewater-based modeling framework that integrates viral shedding dynamics, viral load data in wastewater, case report data, and an epidemic model.
resultsOur results indicate that as an outbreak progresses, the viral load from recovered individuals gradually becomes predominant, surpassing that from the infectious population. This phenomenon leads to a dynamic relationship between model-inferred and reported daily incidence over the course of an outbreak. Sensitivity analyses on the duration and rate of viral shedding for recovered individuals reveal that accounting for this phenomenon can considerably advance prediction of transmission peak timing. Furthermore, extensive viral shedding from the recovered population toward the conclusion of an epidemic wave may overshadow viral signals from newly infected cases carrying emerging variants, which can delay the rapid recognition of emerging variants based on viral load.
conclusionsThese findings highlight the necessity of integrating post-recovery viral shedding to enhance the accuracy and utility of wastewater-based epidemiological analysis.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
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