WAVES (Web-based tool for Analysis and Visualization of Environmental Samples) – a web application for visualization of wastewater pathogen sequencing results

Abstract

Environmental monitoring of pathogens provides an accurate and timely source of information for public health authorities and policymakers. In the last two years, wastewater sequencing proved to be an effective way of detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in population. Wastewater sequencing produces substantial amounts of geographical and genomic data. Proper visualization of spatial and temporal patterns in this data is crucial for the assessment of the epidemiological situation and forecasting. Here, we present a web-based dashboard application for visualization and analysis of data obtained from sequencing of environmental samples. The dashboard provides multi-layered visualization of geographical and genomic data. It allows to display frequencies of detected pathogen variants as well as individual mutation frequencies. The features of WAVES for early tracking and detection of novel variants in the wastewater are demonstrated in an example of BA.1 variant and the signature Spike mutation S:E484A. WAVES dashboard is easily customized through the editable configuration file and can be used for different types of pathogens and environmental samples.

Viral variant-resolved wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at national scale

“…Raw variant quantification of samples described in this contribution are visualised and can be browsed in a dedicated dashboard available at https://ww-dashboard.bergthalerlab. com 107 . Access to aggregated epidemiological data, collected by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES; https://covid19-dashboard.ages.at/), can be granted for research purposes in compliance with local regulatory and legal frameworks, to exclude retraceability of individual cases, upon request via the corresponding author.…”