METHOD FOR CHARACTERIZING THE PREVALENCE OF A BIOCHEMICAL CONDITION WITHIN A POPULATION

• Main Authors: Ghaeli, Newsha, Garcia, Mariana G. Matus
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 10.12.2020
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; CONTROLLING; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; METALLURGY; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; TESTING; TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE

A method for estimating the prevalence of a biochemical condition in a population includes accessing, based on a wastewater sample collected by a wastewater sampling system that samples from a wastewater flow serving the population: a biochemical indicator concentration of a biochemical indicator characterized by a correlation of the biochemical indicator with the biochemical condition; and a biomarker concentration of a biomarker correlated with presence of human excreta. The method also includes: normalizing the biochemical indicator concentration based on the biomarker concentration; adjusting the biochemical indicator concentration based on decay characteristics of the biochemical indicator in wastewater; calculating a biochemical indicator mass estimate for the population based on the biochemical indicator concentration and an effective flow volume of the wastewater flow; and estimating a prevalence of the biochemical condition in the population based on the correlation of the biochemical indicator to the biochemical condition and the biochemical indicator mass estimate.