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US CDC‑UK HSA pilot finds COVID‑19 XEC variant in aircraft wastewater
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Kingdom Health Security Agency conducted a pilot programme that collected 424 aircraft wastewater samples from flights between the United States and the United Kingdom over roughly ten months (March 2024 – January 2025) at two linked international airports. Nearly three‑quarters of the samples tested positive for at least one respiratory pathogen – influenza A, influenza B, SARS‑CoV‑2 or respiratory syncytial virus – and about 72 % were positive for at least one gastrointestinal pathogen.
The study detected the XEC COVID‑19 variant in wastewater from UK‑origin flights on 17 September 2024, four weeks before it appeared in US‑origin flights. The first clinical case of the XEC variant in the United States was recorded in July 2024. Researchers note that wastewater monitoring can be performed without compromising passenger privacy or disrupting flight operations and propose expanding the approach into a global network of airport surveillance sites.
The authors state that aviation wastewater monitoring offers a valuable early‑warning tool to enhance cross‑border biosecurity and improve global pathogen surveillance.
Entities
COVID‑19 XEC variant · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) · International air travel · SARS‑CoV‑2 XEC variant · UK Health Security Agency · United Kingdom · United Kingdom Health Security Agency (HSA) · United States · XEC variant · aircraft wastewater
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 10 SOURCES] The pilot collected 424 wastewater samples from flights between the United States and the United Kingdom between March 2024 and January 2025. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] The XEC variant of COVID‑19 was detected in wastewater from UK‑origin flights on 17 September 2024, four weeks before it was detected in US‑origin flights. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] Approximately 75 % of the samples tested positive for at least one respiratory pathogen such as influenza A, influenza B, SARS‑CoV‑2 or RSV. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] Wastewater monitoring can be performed without compromising passenger or airline privacy and without disrupting flight operations. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] Approximately 72 % of the samples tested positive for at least one gastrointestinal pathogen. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] The first clinical case of the XEC variant in the United States was recorded in July 2024. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] Researchers propose expanding the pilot into a global network of airport surveillance sites for early pathogen detection. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more
- [● 10 SOURCES] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Kingdom Health Security Agency conducted a pilot program analyzing aircraft wastewater. arabic.euronews.com · es.euronews.com · fr.euronews.com · tr.euronews.com · www.merkur.de · +5 more