Rapid Assessment of Opioid Exposure and Treatment in Cities Through Robotic Collection and Chemical Analysis of Wastewater.

Journal: Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology
PMID: 31919800

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Accurate data regarding opioid use, overdose, and treatment is important in guiding community efforts at combating the opioid epidemic. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a potential method to quantify community-level trends of opioid exposure beyond overdose data, which is the basis of most existing response efforts. However, most WBE efforts collect parent opioid compounds (e.g., morphine) at wastewater treatment facilities, measuring opioid concentrations across large catchment zones which typically represent an entire municipality. We sought to deploy a robotic sampling device at targeted manholes within a city to semi-quantitatively detect opioid metabolites (e.g., morphine glucuronide) at a sub-city community resolution.

Authors

  • Norkio Endo
    Biobot Analytics, Inc., Somerville, USA.
  • Newsha Ghaeli
    Biobot Analytics, Inc., Somerville, USA.
  • Claire Duvallet
    Biobot Analytics, Inc., Somerville, USA.
  • Katelyn Foppe
    Biobot Analytics, Inc., Somerville, USA.
  • Timothy B Erickson
    Division of Medical Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
  • Mariana Matus
    Biobot Analytics, Inc., Somerville, USA. mariana@biobot.io.
  • Peter R Chai
    Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St, Neville 200, Boston, MA, 02125, USA.

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