Western and Central Africa Regional Workshop on Wastewater Surveillance for Environment and Public Health - UNU | United Nations University

We’re sharing this article early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research. It is citable and carries a permanent DOI. This version is subject to further edits and will be replaced automatically by the final Version of Record. All legal disclaimers apply. AbstractInfluenza A viruses (IAV) remain a persistent One Health threat, and whole-genome sequencing from wastewater offers a promising surveillance tool. However, IAV is at low abundance in wastewater, making it difficult to sequence. We benchmark four targeted enrichment methods suited for multi-subtype whole-genome IAV sequencing including custom and off-the-shelf methods. Our custom HA tiled-amplicon panel is sensitive, fast, and cost-effective, making it suitable for monitoring low-abundance seasonal variants of known subtypes, although its reliance on conserved and intact primer-binding sites limits primer design to fewer subtypes. A published universal amplicon method targets all IAV subtypes but performs poorly in wastewater due to its reliance on intact genome segments. Meanwhile, probe-capture methods are resilient to RNA degradation.

Applications must be submitted by midnight on 9 October 2026The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of its Technical Advisory Group on Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance for Public Health (WES TAG). Wastewater and environmental surveillance uses samples from sewage and other human-impacted environmental waters to support public health decision-making. It is a rapidly advancing field that can provide valuable population-level health insights when combined with other surveillance data and has applications across a wide range of pathogens and public health priorities. The WES TAG will provide WHO with independent scientific, technical and operational advice on the public health value and implementation of wastewater and environmental surveillance. It will also advise on research priorities, methods, interpretation of results, legal and ethical considerations, and the integration of WES into broader surveillance systems, including through a One Health approach.