Baylor wins 2024 STAT Madness with ‘smoke alarm’ for viral disease outbreaks
It began with injecting monkeys with sewage to see if they developed polio.
Building off that early polio work from the 1940s, researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine analyzed public wastewater and showed they could detect over 450 disease-causing viruses. Their study demonstrating the power of sewage as an early-warning system for outbreaks won the 2024 STAT Madness popular vote.
