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Wastewater reveals which viruses are actually circulating and causing colds
COVID, flu and RSV are the big respiratory illnesses, but U.S. researchers have a clearer picture of other circulating viruses with wastewater surveillance.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
As the weather cools down, as it has here in Washington, people head indoors and start spreading viruses more efficiently. NPR's Pien Huang reports on the viral stew.
PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: There's the big three, to start - flu, RSV and COVID. Those are the ones health officials, like the CDC's Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, are talking about the most.
DEMETRE DASKALAKIS: These are the three that really cause the most sort of utilization of the health care system and the most severe disease.
HUANG: Last year, a survey by the health policy nonprofit KFF showed that 40% of households were hit with at least one of these three viruses. But Marlene Wolfe, an epidemiologist at Emory University, says there's more in the respiratory viral stew.