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Sewage sleuths: hospital wastewater may predict superbug outbreaks

NCT ID NCT07804433

Knowledge-focused Sponsor: Peking Union Medical College Hospital Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting This study
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Sep 04, 2026 · Last updated Sep 04, 2026

Summary

This study tests whether monitoring hospital wastewater can provide an early warning for outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs), bacteria that resist some of the strongest antibiotics. Researchers will collect daily wastewater samples from four hospital areas over 6 to 9 months and track resistance genes. They will compare these signals with patient infection data to see if wastewater changes appear before clinical cases. The goal is to build a system that helps hospitals act sooner to prevent the spread of these dangerous bacteria.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
Wastewater-based surveillance of antimicrobial resistance genes, with no drug or device given to participants
What this could lead to
If it works, hospitals could use wastewater checks to spot dangerous drug-resistant bacteria days or weeks before patients get infected, allowing faster containment.
What could go wrong
This is an observational study, not a treatment test, so it cannot prove cause and effect. The early warning signals may not reliably predict clinical infections across different hospital settings.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Participants

About 720 people

The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.

Expected to start

Sep 2026

An estimate. Start dates often move.

Expected to finish

Sep 2028

An estimate. End dates often move.

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Who is studied

Environmental samples: 24-hour composite wastewater samples from 4 designated sewer manholes (Outpatient Building, Internal Medicine Ward, Surgical Ward, Emergency/Fever Clinic) at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Clinical data: De-identified CRO-positive culture results from patients treated in the above 4 hospital buildings during the study period.

Ages

Children (under 18), adults (18 to 64) and older adults (65 and over)

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Wastewater samples collected from the four designated sampling sites (Outpatient Building, Internal Medicine Ward, Surgical Ward, and Emergency/Fever Clinic). * 24-hour composite samples collected using automatic samplers following the flow-proportional mixing protocol. * Clinical data: Patients with laboratory-confirmed CRO infection (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, etc.) from the above 4 hospital buildings during the study period. Clinical data de-identified at the time of extraction. Exclusion Criteria: * Wastewater samples from sites other than the four designated locations. * Samples contaminated or degraded during collection, transport, or storage. * Clinical data: CRO-positive results indicating colonization rather than infection. * Clinical data with incomplete key information (species, specimen source, date of detection, or department/location).

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As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Carbapenems Drug resistance, bacterial Wastewater

How to take part

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  1. The places running it

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  2. The official record

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Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Peking Union Medical College Hospital

    Beijing, Beijing Municipality, 100730, China

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