Wastewater contains a large number of biomarkers that reflect the lifestyle and health status of an entire community.
These biomarkers can either be endogenous (i.e., they are made by the human body) or exogenous (i.e., they originate outside the human body) and can either be of chemical (e.g., oxidative stress biomarkers, illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals, environmental contaminants) or microbiological (e.g., viruses and bacteria) origin. Once detected and quantified, using either chemical or molecular methods, the occurrence of these biomarkers can be used to derive relevant information for public health.
