Alberta wastewater unlocked key information about COVID-19. Could it help with measles too? – CBC
Researchers at the University of Alberta began looking for the virus in early April
Jul 16, 2025
As Alberta’s measles outbreaks grow, researchers are now watching the province’s wastewater for the highly contagious virus and hoping to determine if the technology could eventually serve as an early detection tool.
The magnitude of Alberta’s outbreaks and the speed at which cases are climbing has sparked widespread concern. As of midday Tuesday, 1,323 cases had been confirmed since the outbreaks began in March.
Piggybacking off weekly wastewater samples, collected through the provincial COVID-19 surveillance program, the team has designed a test that can identify both the wild type measles virus (indicating actual infection) and vaccine-related shedding in the wastewater.
“Wastewater surveillance was shown to be very useful globally — internationally — during COVID-19,” said Dr. Bonita Lee, a co-lead with the pan-Alberta Network for Wastewater Monitoring, which includes researchers from both the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary.
