Academic Journal
Wastewater-based human gut microbiome surveillance links microbial signatures to population health in Ohio communities.
| Τίτλος: | Wastewater-based human gut microbiome surveillance links microbial signatures to population health in Ohio communities. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Lancaster E; Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA., Lee J; Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; Department of Food Science & Technology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; Infectious Diseases Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Electronic address: lee.598@osu.edu. |
| Πηγή: | Environmental research [Environ Res] 2026 Sep 15; Vol. 306 (Pt 3), pp. 125332. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jul 29. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0147621 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1096-0953 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00139351 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Environ Res Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: <2000- > : Amsterdam : Elsevier Original Publication: New York, Academic Press. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Wastewater*/microbiology , Gastrointestinal Microbiome* , Population Health*, Bacteria/classification ; Bacteria/isolation & purification ; Ohio ; Humans ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring |
| Περίληψη: | Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been widely used to track infectious diseases, yet its potential for population-level gut microbiome surveillance and broader public health assessment remains limited. Here, we present a multi-city study in Ohio, USA, demonstrating how sewage-derived human gut microbiome profiles can be leveraged to infer community health patterns. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, influent wastewater samples were collected from eight Ohio cities (May - June 2022). Community-level gut bacterial profiles were characterized and integrated with publicly available health, lifestyle, socioeconomic, and demographic data using geospatial analysis. Bioinformatic processing and multivariate statistical approaches, including principal component analysis and multiple linear regressions, were used to examine associations between microbial features and population health indicators. Distinct microbial signatures were observed across cities, including variation in clinically relevant taxa such as Bacteroidota, Desulfobacterota, Verrucomicrobiota, Akkermansia, Desulfovibrio, and Streptococcus. Several microbial features, including Firmicutes, Desulfovibrio, Acetobacterium, and alpha diversity, were significantly associated with indicators of chronic disease burden and health-related factors, including smoking, obesity, unemployment, and minority status. Notably, several microbial variables demonstrated statistical associations with multiple community health metrics (e.g., hypertension, high cholesterol, asthma, obesity, smoking, depression, and unemployment), and rural communities generally exhibited higher adverse health burdens alongside distinct microbiome profiles. These findings highlight the feasibility of integrating wastewater-based gut microbiome data with demographic and health indicators to evaluate community health disparities. This study expands the scope of WBE beyond infectious disease monitoring and supports its application in informing targeted and equitable public health interventions. (Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Chronic diseases; Community health; Gut microbiome; Health disparities; Socioeconomic factors; Spatial analysis; Wastewater microbiome; Wastewater-based epidemiology |
| Substance Nomenclature: | 0 (Wastewater) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260728 Date Completed: 20260809 Latest Revision: 20260809 |
| Update Code: | 20260810 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.envres.2026.125332 |
| PMID: | 42520903 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1096-0953 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.envres.2026.125332 |