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. 2026 Jan 16;13:1675742. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1675742

Table 2.

Public health actions in response to pathogen detection in wastewater.

Included studies N = 49 (%)
Reactive actions for disease control 30 (61%)
Test notifications 23 (47%)
Isolation or quarantine measures 15 (31%)
Source tracing 14 (29%)
Contact tracing 11 (22%)
15.6-2.2,-1.3242ptHygienic measures 6 (12%)
Proactive actions for disease control 30 (61%)
Evaluation or adaptation of intervention(s) 15 (31%)
Vaccination campaign initiation, evaluation and/or (re)design 14 (29%)
15.6-2.2,-1.3242ptBehavioural interventions 4 (8%)
Public health communication and engagement 19 (39%)
Public health messaging, promotion or education 19 (39%)
15.6-2.2,-1.3242pt(Increased) community engagement 3 (6%)
Surveillance and monitoring 15 (31%)
Enrichment of epidemiological data 6 (12%)
Implementation of WES* as early warning system 4 (8%)
Expansion of WES 3 (6%)
(Improved) surveillance of (emerging) pathogen(s) 2 (4%)
15.6-2.2,-1.3242ptIncorporation of WES in regular surveillance 1 (2%)
Policy and collaboration 9 (18%)
Initiation or expanded collaboration with external (public health) partners 5 (10%)
Resource allocation 4 (8%)
Public health policy development 2 (4%)
Protect healthcare staff high at risk of severe disease 1 (2%)

Domain counts represent the number of studies reporting at least one action within the domain; action counts represent the total number of times each specific action was reported across all included studies.

*WES, wastewater and environmental surveillance.