US COVID markers show small rise in activity Wastewater detections are up in the western region, which is also seeing a small rise in test positivity. CIDRAP

The main markers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses to track COVID activity showed small rises Friday from very low levels, including wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections, which rose from the minimal to low level over the past week....

Spikes of flu virus in wastewater raise questions about spread of bird flu | CNN Spikes of influenza A virus seen in wastewater samples from 59 sewer systems across 18 different states this spring may point to the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is currently infecting dairy cattle, a new study suggests. Brenda Goodman CNN

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So far, the US Department of Agriculture has reported more than 30 herds of dairy cows infected with H5N1 influenza across nine states. But there are questions about how large the outbreak might be and whether the US can adequately track it.

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Testing environmental water to monitor COVID-19 spread in unsheltered encampments

To better understand COVID-19's spread during the pandemic, public health officials have expanded wastewater surveillance. These efforts track SARS-CoV-2 levels and health risks among most people, but they miss people who live without shelter, a population particularly vulnerable to severe infection.

To fill this information gap, researchers reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters tested flood-control waterways near unsheltered encampments, finding similar transmission patterns as in the broader community and identifying previously unseen viral mutations.

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