Infokiri

Dear ECDC colleagues,

Santé publique France salutes the efforts of ECDC in encouraging Member States to develop infrastructure dedicated to wastewater surveillance. We have carefully revised the proposed document, which is a good debriefing of the main issues concerning the implementation of WBS. We do, however, have some suggestions of improvement or demands for clarification concerning certain points:

-          The complexity in WBS data issued from different sources (even when working at a national level) implies that it should be treated as being qualitative in nature, avoiding the temptation of doing analyses using a quantitative approach. It should be clearly stated in the document that WBS data should always be used in complement to other epidemiological data, and never as an independent indicator.

-          The document insists on the importance of ensuring data comparability between different sources and the use of standardization methods to this end. We want to point out that the use of such methods is normally intended to enable data comparability along different timepoints, and not sampling sites. WBS data is difficult to compare between sources, even at a national level.

-          Regional specificities (including geographical characteristics of each MS) should be taken in consideration during all steps of the implementation of WBS, from pathogen selection (different Member States may have different needs to address) to data collection and analysis. The cost/benefit evaluation that each MS may do on the implementation of wastewater-based surveillance will always be affected by these regional specificities, which this have a direct consequence in the decisions concerning pathogen prioritization.

-          It is no clearly specified the way in which ECDC and Member States will articulate the reflections on pathogen prioritization with initiatives such as EU-WISH (for which results are expected by end of 2026, at the latest).

-          Developments should be made on the public health objectives of this surveillance and on the measures that would be put in place following signals of detection/changes in pathogen circulation thanks to this system.

-          There is no mention in the document on how to address biosafety regulations in place in some countries that could affect the implementation of WBS. Concerning France, our biosafety regulations demand certifications for all steps of the microbiological surveillance of certain pathogens (from sampling to analysis, conservation and disposal of biological material) and this could heavily affect the logistics of laboratories involved in WBS.

-          Finally, and for the specific case of polio, the document should address the importance of polio WBS around Poliovirus Essential Facilities (including reference laboratories) as well as the areas of population at higher risk or having a lesser vaccine coverage. It should be also clearly specified how European wastewater-based polio surveillance would articulate with the WHO-driven initiatives and how double reporting would be avoided.

Hoping that these points will be taken into consideration, yours sincerely,

Dear colleagues,

Thank you again for attending the Annual Joint NFP for Surveillance and NFP for Microbiology meeting, Stockholm 23-24 October 2024.

One of the sessions was focussed on wastewater-based surveillance and we discussed the recast of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, country experiences as well as country and ECDC perspectives on this topic.

Please find attached as promised the draft ECDC concept for integration of wastewater data in surveillance of infectious diseases at EU/EEA-level in word format to provide your feedback and considerations within 3 weeks until 28 Nov 2024. ECDC plans to publish the final document as ECDC output on the webpage.

Kind regards,

The ECDC Microbiology Team

Dear colleagues,

We are looking forward to meeting you next week at the Annual Joint NFP for Surveillance and NFP for Microbiology meeting taking place in Stockholm on 23-24 October 2024.

Please find attached the draft agenda and other meeting documents which we kindly ask you to read through ahead of the meeting, if possible, so that you will be able to participate in the discussions.

1. 1. Draft meeting agenda

2. 2. Draft IA art. 13 List of diseases v6 (session 1)

3. 3. Draft IA art. 13 Network operation v10 (session 1)

4. 4. Draft IA art. 14 EpiPulse specs v5 (session 1)

5. 5. Draft DA art. 14 EpiPulse access v3 (session 1)

6. 6. Draft DA art. 14 Surveillance system requirements v6 (session 1)

7. 7. ECDC concept for integration of wastewater data in surveillance of infectious diseases at EUEEA-level v1 (session 6)

Kind regards,

Ann-Christin Lugg

on behalf of Bruno Ciancio and Daniel Palm

Classified as ECDC NORMAL 

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