As respiratory viruses begin their annual climb across Ontario, researchers say wastewater surveillance continues to provide some of the earliest and most reliable signals of what’s circulating in our communities.
But the same techniques used to detect COVID-19 and influenza in humans may also hold the key to protecting Ontario’s farms and greenhouses from devastating plant diseases.
That insight comes from Dr. Trevor Charles, a microbiologist and professor in the University of Waterloo’s Department of Biology, whose team has spent the past several years monitoring wastewater across the province for viruses, bacteria and antimicrobial resistance.
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