Sewage water in 11 California locations being tested to detect monkeypox

During the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers learned to use sewage water as an early detection method for the virus. That same approach is now being used to detect monkeypox. WastewaterSCAN is the national expansion of the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network (SCAN) that launched in 2020 to detect levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. It draws on research by scientists from Stanford University, Emory University, the University of Michigan, and several communities in NorCal. "Monkeypox is a newly emerging viral threat in our communities and it's also shed in bodily fluids, so it ends up in wastewater," said Heather Bischel, an associate professor at the civil and environmental engineering department at UC Davis.