Amid Canada’s largest measles outbreak in more than a decade, experts say this COVID-era tool could help [Video]

As Canada deals with its largest measles outbreak in more than a decade, health experts say a COVID-era tool could help tame the spread.

Wastewater surveillance, which involves testing sewage samples for viral pathogens, became essential during the pandemic. The data helped overwhelmed health officials map out COVID-19’s path and better predict the trajectory of cases. 

At the time, it was praised as a critical public health tool that could serve as a warning system to keep Canadians safe from future harmful infections. And as the current measles outbreak surpasses 500 cases in Canada, experts say this is the moment where leaning into regional wastewater surveillance would be most helpful. 

And yet, public health officials aren’t actively using this tool to test for measles.

In fact, wastewater surveillance has been scaled back in Ontario, a current measles hotspot, which scrapped its program last summer. The province said it would instead rely on the Public …