Pathogen Detection and Identification in Wastewater.

This document is an editorial summarizing a special issue of the journal Water on the topic of pathogen detection and identification in wastewater. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for research in this area, with a focus on wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). The special issue includes 11 papers from researchers around the world, covering topics such as molecular detection methods, tracing COVID-19 variants in wastewater, the effects of temperature and water types on virus decay, and the development and evaluation of pathogen detection methods. The articles highlight the diverse applications and challenges of WBE as a supplementary tool for epidemiological surveillance. The editorial concludes by emphasizing the importance of standardizing sampling, analysis, and data reporting protocols to improve the reproducibility and comparability of wastewater surveillance studies. [Extracted from the article]