[MONTEVIDEO, SciDev.Net] Scientists in Uruguay have found genotypes of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) linked to cervical cancer in urban wastewater, saying it could help inform disease prevention efforts.
They believe their findings, published in the journal Food and Environmental Virology, position wastewater monitoring as a useful tool for finding information about diseases in low- and middle-income countries, where epidemiological data is scarce.
HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer, detected in 99 per cent of cases. Low- and middle-income countries have the highest prevalence of this type of cancer — and the highest mortality rate from it.
“Many of our working groups are seeing this environmental monitoring of such diverse viruses … as a way to understand what’s happening in the population even…