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.