Rosemary Brandt, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have employed a full range of public health tools to predict when and where outbreaks may occur, including sewage monitoring. Sewage-based epidemiology has gained national attention in the University of Arizona’s efforts to get students back into the classroom. And in Yuma County, where he grows 90% of the country’s winter vegetables, monitoring wastewater has helped keep the agricultural industry running during the pandemic.

Currently a researcher at U Arizona Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture To protect against the emerging public health concern of drug-resistant bacteria, we are turning to wastewater monitoring. Candida auris.

A serious fungal disease that is spreading rapidly in hospitals and health care facilities across the United States, Candida auris In severely ill patients, it can lead to bloodstream infections and even death.

“The Arizona Department of Health Services is partnering with YCEDA (Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture) to test wastewater. Candida auris As a pilot surveillance program,” he said. bradley schmitzis a visiting researcher in the Center’s Molecular Biology Laboratory and a national expert in the organization and execution of wastewater-based epidemiology programs.

The research team hopes the project will help establish standard methods for monitoring Candida auris To wastewater that can be deployed statewide. The data collected will help inform public health standards to direct prevention resources.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a clinical case of Candida auris Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infections have nearly tripled, leading to comparisons to HBO’s hit show, The Last of Us. In this show, a fungal pathogen triggers an apocalyptic scenario and the end of civilization as we know it.

Far from the fictional apocalypse of primetime television, Candida auris Schmitz said it likely poses no risk to people with a competent immune system. However, it may be deadly for others.

“Patients with indwelling devices, such as those on ventilators or those with central venous catheters, and those who are immunocompromised, develop severe infections and can even die. C. auris,” He said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Candida auris Ninety percent of infections are resistant to at least one antifungal drug, and some infections are resistant to all available antifungal classes and are therefore considered an ’emergency threat’.

Its multidrug resistance has led to outbreaks in healthcare settings, especially hospitals and long-term care facilities, where many patients are asymptomatic. Candida auris Colonization, said Schmitz.

“Wastewater-based epidemiology is a unique and perfect approach to identify C. auris Because even asymptomatic carriers of drug-resistant bacteria can be identified in wastewater – life-threatening and dangerous organisms. ”

Sustaining the Growth of “America’s Salad Bowl”

This effort builds on the successful use of wastewater monitoring by the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture to help Yuma communities track the spread of COVID-19.

Dubbed “America’s Winter Salad Bowl,” Yuma is the nation’s number one producer of winter leafy greens, including romaine lettuce, spinach and kale. Hoping to avert his COVID-19 outbreak that plagued the meat industry, producers and Yuma community members banded together early in the pandemic to bring a wastewater-based epidemiology to the county.

Mr. Schmitz, who studied under a prominent environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona Ian Pepperwas instrumental in expanding the Yuma Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture’s wastewater-based epidemiology program and designed the Yuma County COVID-19 Community Protection Early Warning and Response Program sponsored by the Arizona Department of Health.

The program established wastewater trials in Yuma County and its four municipalities to further inform targeted response plans for potential hot spots in the community of public health officials and decision makers.

“We are located on the Mexico-California border and have a large migrant workforce, many of whom cross the border every day. We have two large military installations and two tribal states,” he said. Told. Paul Brierley, executive director of the Yuma Center of Excellence in Desert Agriculture. “Local governments, hospitals, schools, the agricultural industry, the military, etc. all work very well together as a community to address many shared issues.”

By using wastewater as the first warning system for the presence of COVID-19, the county was able to stay ahead of the curve and continue to pump produce out of the valley to consumers nationwide.

A key tool for protecting public health

Beyond COVID-19, Yuma Center is expanding its wastewater monitoring program to help communities address other public health concerns, such as influenza. Respiratory syntactic virus known as RSV.And now, drug-resistant bacteria Candida auris.

Brierley says the Yuma Center’s success has enabled it to pivot quickly to address emerging problems, recruit expert staff, partner with national and international visiting researchers, collaborate with collaborators in industry and government, We believe in the ability to “get the job done”.

“We are honored to have a strong multidisciplinary team working on the many facets of public health that wastewater-based epidemiology requires to be effective,” Brierley said.

Along with Schmitz and staff from Pepper’s Water & Energy Sustainable Technology Center, the Yuma Center includes Gabriel Innes, epidemiologist and visiting research expert on antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated pathogens, and epidemiologist and exposure scientist. Andrew Patton is also staying. Extensive public health experience with an emphasis on predictive modeling.

The research team has worked with the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health to keep the Yuma Center of Excellence in Desert Agriculture at the forefront of the potential of sewage-based epidemiology. .Community-scale wastewater monitoring program during the period Candida auris Occurs in Nevada Summer 2022.

“We were the first in the country to discover C. auris Mr Schmitz said: “Working with the YCEDA core team, we are working on a multi-pronged approach to bring science to the world. Action.”

Schmitz said the success of wastewater monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic has in many ways highlighted its effectiveness in directing public health efforts and clinical diagnostic testing to help bring the world back to normal. said to have proved it. It is now poised to become a more reliable public health tool and help prevent future pandemics.

“We believe wastewater-based epidemiology is the next major tool for protecting public health and impacting communities across states and countries,” Schmitz said. We could not have done this without the support and cooperation of our partners who have taken action and prevented disease and disease-related deaths.”