ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2026
A 3-year wastewater-based epidemiology study of noroviruses in Senegal.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Norovirus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide due to its high contagiousness, widespread transmission, and the lack of treatment or vaccine. In Senegal, no routine community-level monitoring is performed, and most available data concern other enteric viruses, leaving a gap in understanding norovirus circulation. To assess the potential of wastewater surveillance as an early warning system, we analyzed the spatiotemporal circulation in Senegal of noroviruses using clinical and environmental data collected between 2020 and 2023, combining statistical and machine learning models, and comparing effective reproduction number R(t) estimates between genotypes and surveillance systems. Our data show that norovirus GII was the dominant genotype during the study period. In addition, a strong spatial heterogeneity in viral load was identified between wastewater collection sites, with high titers observed in several wastewater collection sites. Interestingly, peaks of viral load in environmental setting frequently preceded increases in reported clinical cases. Modeling data indicated more persistent circulation of norovirus GII than GI. Our findings also highlighted the influence of temporal, demographic, and clinical factors for viral loads in wastewater. Comparison of the effective reproduction number R(t) confirmed the descriptive data and highlighted a more persistent circulation for norovirus GII and a detection of R(t)'s increases in wastewater data prior to variation in clinical data, underscoring the usefulness of wastewater environmental surveillance as an early warning tool system for norovirus surveillance. Our study is noteworthy by representing the first countrywide application of wastewater-based epidemiology to monitor norovirus circulation across diverse geographic and demographic settings in Senegal. IMPORTANCE: Noroviruses represent a major public health concern worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, such as Senegal where resources are limited. Monitoring noroviruses in wastewater is critical for early detection of outbreaks and tracking viral evolution, as these viruses are often underdiagnosed in clinical settings. In this study, we report on the spatiotemporal circulation of noroviruses in Senegal using clinical and environmental data collected over 4 years and combining modeling methods with estimation of epidemiological parameters. Our study provides the first countrywide data on the application of wastewater-based epidemiology to monitor noroviruses across diverse geographic and demographic settings in Senegal. Our data offer a proactive, cost-effective method to monitor public health trends and identify the presence of noroviruses within the population, offering an early warning system for community spread. The approach could be useful for the monitoring of other public health concerns in Senegal in the absence of routine clinical surveillance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.