Your Poop And Urine May Be Crucial For Predicting End Of COVID-19 Pandemic

A key element in controlling the spread of the novel Coronavirus is to conduct as much testing as possible. Citing the shortage in this ideal scenario, one startup is trying to gain insights into the outbreak in city sewers across the US.

The logic behind this comes through a new research that explains the presence of Coronavirus in the poo of those infected by it. Biobot, a Massachusetts based Wastewater Epidemiology firm, plans to use this fact to survey the spread of Coronavirus across cities.

(Representative Image: Shutterstock)

The map that develops out of the survey will be able to hint at a measure of the outbreak in a community. The practice has two benefits over the existing testing methods - It does not require a testing centre for patients to be tested and it helps pinpoint those infected with the virus but do not display any symptom.

¡°In some diseases, people excrete viruses before they show symptoms, meaning that sewage can provide an early indicator of disease spread before people start seeking care,¡± a blog post written by Biobot cofounders Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli explains.

Biobot appoints a team of epidemiologists, data scientists, urban planners, engineers and biologists to conduct these surveys. The team has conducted similar tests earlier to manage the American opioid crisis.

Reuters

An interesting benefit of the testing method is that it is possible to detect early warnings of the outbreak in the case it remerges and has a seasonal cycle.

In addition to such innovative methods of testing, scientists are also coming up with ways to kill the Coronavirus altogether.In a recent study, scientists claim to have found that Ivermectin a common anti-parasitic drug, is able to significantly reduce Coronavirus in a host within 24 hours of the using the drug. You can read about the study here.