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Oklahoma health experts have seen a surge in the flu virus in wastewater samples, reported KOCO. Wastewater has been sampled for months in the area to find COVID-19. However, what they have found is a rise in the flu virus.
According to experts, this kind of testing is helping them to track the flu. The waste has all kinds of information that is beneficial to public health because it can help predict surges of diseases.
Dr. Katrin Kuhn, an Epidemiologist at OU Health Sciences Center, said:
"We can quantify the concentrations of influenza in administering the wastewater and when we have a few more weeks of data, we'll actually be able to associate these measures of viral load in the wastewater with actual reported cases."
Having the knowledge of a virus surge helps professionals to better and more accurately message about what's going on. Phil Maytubby, the OKC-County Health Department Chief Operating Officer, said:
"The advance knowledge and awareness it gives us the ability to message more acutely about what's out there and more immediacy to our messaging so that people pay attention. That gives us the ability to look forward a bit to see how this is going to affect our hospitalizations because we already have a significant caseload in the hospitals due to COVID."