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Life sciences · Journal article
Environmental Science and Pollution Research · August 1, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a proof-of-concept study demonstrating that wastewater 16S rRNA sequencing can detect genus-level bacterial signatures and temporal shifts in community gut microbiota across two Ohio cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The work is exploratory and establishes methodological feasibility for population-level microbiome surveillance, but does not establish causal links between SARS-CoV-2 infection and specific microbial taxa or demonstrate clinical utility.
Exploratory observational study. Wastewater influent from two central Ohio sewersheds (Columbus and Newark) serving populations differing in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics; no individual enrollment.. n = 69. Columbus and Newark, central Ohio, USA.
Monthly wastewater influent samples (n=69) collected from August 2020 through June 2022 from two cities showed distinct genus-level bacterial signatures reflective of each catchment population. Significant temporal changes in bacterial structure and diversity were observed across both cities throughout the pandemic. Several taxa including Collinsella, Megasphaera, and Actinobacteriota showed notable relative abundance fluctuations that may be linked to infection and warrant further investigation as potential microbial biomarkers.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
This study does not provide clinical guidance. It suggests wastewater surveillance may complement infectious disease preparedness but does not establish whether detected microbial shifts correlate with individual health outcomes or predict disease burden.
An exploratory, uncontrolled observational study of wastewater microbiota during COVID-19 that demonstrates feasibility of a novel surveillance method but lacks clinical endpoints, comparators, or causal evidence linking microbial shifts to health outcomes.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
This study does not provide clinical guidance. It suggests wastewater surveillance may complement infectious disease preparedness but does not establish whether detected microbial shifts correlate with individual health outcomes or predict disease burden.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) offers a unique, scalable method to monitor disease burden at a community level by capturing all individuals within a sewershed. While emerging evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may influence the human gut microbiota, which is essential for health and disease outcomes, most microbiome studies remain limited to the individual scale. Given wastewater's sensitivity to fluctuations in human fecal composition, we propose leveraging WBE as a cost-effective tool to characterize longitudinal microbial shifts in community-level gut microbiota throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In this exploratory study, we analyze wastewater from two central Ohio, USA, cities, Columbus and Newark, which differ in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Monthly influent samples (n = 69) were collected from August 2020 through June 2022. Clinical COVID-19 cases were collected from within each sewershed, and SARS-CoV-2 gene concentrations were quantified from wastewater samples. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was conducted to characterize human-gut-associated bacterial communities. We report that wastewater influent exhibits distinct genus-level bacterial signatures reflective of each catchment population. Significant temporal changes in bacterial structure and diversity were observed across both cities, indicating community gut health shifts throughout the pandemic. Several taxa, including but not limited to Collinsella, Megasphaera, and Actinobacteriota, showed notable relative abundance fluctuations that may be linked to infection and warrant further investigation as potential microbial biomarkers. This study demonstrates that urban population-level gut microbiome patterns can be robustly characterized through wastewater influent. Most notably, this 23-month study represents the first effort to examine community gut microbiota structural changes across two cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight sewage as a population-level proxy for public health status and disease burden while offering a novel framework for integrating microbiome science into WBE. This study underscores the potential of wastewater surveillance to advance global infectious disease preparedness and population-scale microbiome research.
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