Source tracking and risk assessment of human pathogens in riverine water

Due to increasing levels of urbanisation, agricultural activities and climate change, the number of waterborne and foodborne illnesses are increasing worldwide.

Specifically, the rise in human and animal populations has resulted in increasing amounts of human and animal-derived wastewater entering the aquatic environment.

Furthermore, due to the increasing frequency of storm events, more untreated wastewater and stormwater is entering our rivers and coastal waters.

Many of these pathogens are extremely stable in the water environment, and hence able to infect people who use water bodies for drinking, recreational activities or those who consume seafood derived from contaminated harvesting zones.

To date, however, traditional monitoring tools rely on the detection of faecal coliforms and streptococci as a proxy for wastewater contamination in drinking, bathing water and seafood.

These bacteria frequently associate not only with humans but also with domestic and wild animals, hence its detection provides no information on the source of contamination.

The aim of this PhD is therefore to harness viral-host specificity to develop novel methods to monitor and distinguish human, animal and zoonotic pathogens in wastewater and in riverine water.