The episodic outbreak of COVID-19 due to SARS-CoV-2 is severely affecting the economy, and the global count of infected patients is increasing. The actual number of patients had been underestimated due to limited facilities for testing as well as asymptomatic nature of the expression of COVID-19 on individual basis. Tragically, for emerging economies with high population density, the situation has been more complex due to insufficient testing facilities for diagnosis of the disease. However, the recent reports about persistent shedding of viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 in the human feces have created a possibility to track the prevalence and trends of the disease in communities, known as wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). In this article, we highlight the current limitations and future prospects for WBE to manage pandemics.

SARS-CoV-2 引起的 COVID-19 的偶发疫情严重影响了经济，全球感染患者数量正在增加。由于检测设施有限以及 COVID-19 个体表达无症状，实际患者人数被低估。可悲的是，对于人口密度高的新兴经济体来说，由于诊断该疾病的检测设施不足，情况更加复杂。然而，最近有关人类粪便中 SARS-CoV-2 病毒 RNA 持续脱落的报道为追踪该疾病在社区中的患病率和趋势提供了可能性，即基于废水的流行病学 (WBE)。在本文中，我们强调了 WBE 管理流行病的当前局限性和未来前景。