Joud Abu Farah

Joud Abu Farah began working in the Servos Lab as a co-op student, where she contributed to wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) for SARS-CoV-2. She later completed an Honours thesis project on the assessment of fecal indicators for wastewater surveillance of COVID-19, before continuing her graduate research on wastewater surveillance of influenza A, influenza B, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Southern Ontario.

Her work extended wastewater-based surveillance approaches beyond SARS-CoV-2 to other key respiratory viruses. She investigated viral partitioning in wastewater and evaluated different sample processing methods, showing that influenza A, influenza B, and RSV predominantly associate with the solid fraction, while SARS-CoV-2 is more evenly distributed between solids and liquids. She also assessed and optimized extraction and concentration methods to improve viral RNA recovery and detection.

Using weekly wastewater samples from treatment plants in the Region of Waterloo, her analyses demonstrated strong correlations between wastewater viral signals and reported clinical cases and hospitalizations for influenza and RSV. Overall, her research supported wastewater-based surveillance as an effective complementary tool for tracking respiratory virus activity and informing public health monitoring.

To see Joud's publications, visit her Google Scholar profile.