As the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, a California county is using the same wastewater monitoring program it used to track the coronavirus to go after another deadly public health crisis: opioids.
Marin County, north of San Francisco, began a pilot program in February to collect wastewater samples from its sanitation agency and test them for the presence of substances like fentanyl, methamphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine.
"The problem of overdose is a public health crisis. We're losing one resident every five days in Marin County," said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County's public health officer. "And so we really think it's important for us to develop the same kind of surveillance methods, the same kind of intelligence we had applied to the COVID-19 pandemic, to this new crisis of overdoses.
The county used the same method and partners to monitor for evidence of the spread of the coronavirus, so the infrastructure for the pilot program is largely in place. The sample is then shipped to Biobot Analytics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Biobot researchers then analyze the sample for the presence of drugs.
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