Infectious disease testing methods

Abstract

To provide a testing method that aims to prevent the outbreak of infectious disease clusters and determines the possibility of infection among visitors to a facility where infections have occurred without conducting regular PCR tests on them.SOLUTION: One aspect of the present invention is an infectious disease testing method that includes: a sampling step of sampling samples from a sewage during a sampling period in the route of the sewage discharged from a facility to a public sewer pipe; an analysis step of analyzing the samples to obtain information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the samples; and a notification step of notifying the facility of the information together with the sampling period, the notified information and the sampling period indicating the possibility that there is an infected person with the infectious pathogen among visitors to the facility at least during the sampling period.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for testing for infectious diseases, and more particularly to a method for testing for infectious diseases that utilizes the natural law of uneven distribution of infectious pathogens such as viruses in a city to prevent the occurrence of clusters (mass infections) in facilities. [Background technology]

[0002] In order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as the coronavirus, people who show symptoms such as fever are subjected to infectious disease tests (others include antigen tests) that can confirm infection at the time of the test, such as PCR tests, and if a positive reaction is found, measures such as isolating the person, including close contacts, are taken.

[0003] However, when an infected person is found among people living together in a hospital or nursing home, by the time symptoms are confirmed and a PCR test is positive, the infection has already spread widely and clusters have occurred. Therefore, it is possible to conduct PCR tests periodically, even on asymptomatic people, but because the cost and effort involved are considerable, there are currently very few facilities that conduct PCR tests on all residents. As a result, clusters occur periodically.

[0004] On the other hand, in order to predict the infection situation on a macro level, attempts have been made to estimate infectious diseases such as norovirus by analyzing sewage collected from sewage treatment plants (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2011-155919 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention aims to prevent the occurrence of infectious disease clusters and to provide a testing method for determining the possibility of infection among visitors to a facility without having to conduct regular PCR tests on them. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is an infectious disease testing method including a sampling step of sampling samples from sewage discharged from a facility during a sampling period along the route the sewage passes before it flows into a public sewer pipe; an analysis step of analyzing the samples to obtain information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the samples; and a notification step of notifying the facility of the information together with the sampling period, wherein the notified information and the sampling period indicate the possibility that there is an infected person with the infectious pathogen among those staying at the facility during at least the sampling period.

[0008] "Facility" here refers to a building such as a nursing home, hospital, school, or company where the main visitors (employees, residents, visitors, etc.) can be identified, regardless of whether it is a single building or multiple buildings. Furthermore, "visitors" here is not limited to those who live in the facility (residents) or those who stay at the facility (guests), but also includes those who use the facility only during the day (users). Furthermore, "facility sewage" refers to sewage discharged from the facility, and is present in the route that the wastewater discharged from the facility takes before it flows into the public sewer pipes. The inventors of the present application came up with the idea that in order to grasp the distribution of infectious pathogens such as viruses in the city, testing at the facility level where clusters occur is useful, and in an actual facility, they flushed pseudoviruses from toilets etc. into the sewer in an amount similar to that contained in the excrement of infected people, and analyzed the samples captured by a sampling means placed in the sewer for the sampling period. As a result, they were able to detect a sufficient amount of virus for detection, which led to the completion of the testing method of the present invention. Infectious pathogens include viruses such as coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and noroviruses, as well as bacteria such as Salmonella, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Escherichia coli O157, and microorganisms such as Entamoeba histolytica, Campylobacter, and mites.

[0009] The present invention is an infectious disease testing method that takes advantage of the natural law of uneven distribution of infectious pathogens such as viruses in the community to prevent the occurrence of clusters. Effect of the Invention

[0010] The present invention has the effect of preventing the occurrence of clusters by determining the possibility of infection of visitors without conducting regular PCR tests, etc. Furthermore, if an infectious pathogen is observed in a sample, PCR tests, etc. can be conducted on all visitors to specifically identify infected individuals and prevent the occurrence of clusters. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an inspection method. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the facility's sewage and the public sewage. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method for collecting samples. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a pre-processing method. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an inspection system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] [Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the infectious disease testing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

[0013] One embodiment of the infectious disease testing method according to the present invention is carried out by a facility 1, a management company 2, a contract analysis company 3, a collection company 4, and a public health center 5. First, an overview of the process will be described. In the following diagram, circled numbers will be expressed as {1} as appropriate.

[0014] [Process {1}] Management company 2, upon receiving a request from facility 1, visits facility 1 and inspects the drainage equipment of facility 1 to determine the sampling location and the planned sampling period.

[0015] [Process {2}] The management company 2 communicates the determined collection location, collection period, information identifying the sample, and information identifying the facility 1 to the collection company 4, and requests that the sample be collected.

[0016] [Process {3}] The requested sampling contractor 4 visits the facility 1, collects samples at designated sampling locations in the facility's sewage during the designated sampling period, and submits the samples to the contract analysis company 3 together with information identifying the samples received at the time of the request.

[0017] [Process {4}] The contracted analysis company 3 that receives the sample analyzes the sample to obtain information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample, and reports the information, along with information identifying the sample, to the management company 2.

[0018] [Process {5}] Upon receiving the report, management company 2 will identify information identifying facility 1, the collection location, and the collection period based on the information identifying the reported sample, and provide this information to facility 1 along with information regarding the presence of infectious pathogens in the sample.

[0019] [Process {6}] If the information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample indicates the presence of an infected individual, Facility 1 will identify those who stayed at Facility 1 during the collection period in which the sample was provided and conduct PCR tests on those individuals. This will allow measures such as isolation to be taken for residents who test positive and those who have come into close contact with them.

[0020] The above steps {1} to {6} will be described in detail below.

[0021] [Details of Process {1}] Upon receiving a request from the facility 1, the management company 2 visits the facility 1 and determines the sampling location and the planned sampling period by inspecting the drainage equipment of the facility 1. The drainage equipment in this case will be described with reference to FIG.

[0022] The building of facility 1 is equipped with a toilet 21, a kitchen 22, a bathroom 23, a washroom / hand-washing area 24, and a laundry area 25. These are facilities that may be discharged into the sewer, and it is not necessary to have all of them. In addition, there may be other facilities that may be discharged into the sewer. Wastewater generated by these facilities is discharged into the public sewer 30 through a drainage system.

[0023] The drainage system is composed of a drain pipe 26, an excrement wastewater manhole 27, an other wastewater manhole 28, and manhole covers 29 installed above each manhole, and wastewater discharged from the above system passes through the excrement wastewater manhole 27 and other wastewater manholes 28, and is led through the drain pipe 26 to a public sewer pipe 31 of a public sewer 30. The drainage system may be provided with a septic tank, but is not limited to this. The wastewater led to the public sewer pipe 31 is collected at a sewage treatment plant 40 via a public sewerage system 32.

[0024] The following describes the preferred criteria for selecting a sampling location in such a facility 1. Generally, the excrement sewage manhole 27 and other sewage manhole 28 are provided with manhole covers 29 to facilitate access from above ground, making them more preferred sampling locations than the drain pipe 26. Also, since it is known that excrement from guests in the toilets 21 is temporarily retained in the excrement sewage manhole 27 via the drain pipe 26, and that infectious pathogens such as viruses are detected in high concentrations in excrement and sputum, it is more desirable to select the excrement sewage manhole 27 as the sampling location. However, there are drainage facilities in which the excrement sewage manhole 27 and other sewage manhole 28 are integrated, and drainage facilities in which the drain pipe 26 is accessible from the outside, and infectious pathogens flow into the sewerage system through various routes. Therefore, the selection of the sampling location is not limited to the above criteria, and various sampling locations can be set as long as they are locations where wastewater contaminated with infectious pathogens released from the bodies of residents passes through and before it flows into the public sewerage system 32.

[0025] Next, preferable criteria for selecting the planned collection period will be described. For example, a large amount of water is discharged from the bathroom 23 during cleaning. The time period during which this discharge water passes through the drainage system is not suitable for sampling because the concentration of infectious pathogens is diluted. Therefore, it is desirable to interview the person who operates the facility 1 and select a time period different from the cleaning time period of the bathroom 23 and the time period during which dishes are washed in the kitchen 22 as the planned sampling period. In addition, if the facility 1 is a facility where visitors are concentrated during the day, such as a school or a facility dedicated to day care services, it is desirable to set the planned sampling period to a daytime time period. Furthermore, if the planned sampling period is too short, it is not possible to ensure that infectious pathogens discharged from the body of the visitor have an opportunity to flow into the sewage of the facility 1, so it is desirable to set the planned sampling period to at least several hours. However, the planned sampling period may be determined based on various other factors, and the planned sampling period can be determined in various ways as long as it is a period during which the feces of the visitor flows into the sewage and the infectious pathogens can be detected from the collected sample.

[0026] [Details of Process {2}] The management company 2 communicates to the collection company 4 the determined collection location, the planned collection period, information identifying the sample, and information identifying the facility 1, and requests the collection of the sample. In this case, the information identifying the sample is, for example, a barcode 53 (see FIG. 3). The barcode 53 is coded with numbers that can distinguish the sample to be collected from samples collected at other facilities, other locations, or time periods within the same facility 1. The information identifying the sample is not limited to a barcode, and may be an RF tag or a serial number stored in a storage medium. In addition, the form of the information can be changed in various ways as long as it can distinguish the sample to be collected from samples collected at other facilities, other locations, or time periods within the same facility 1. Furthermore, for the convenience of the collection work, the information identifying facility 1 includes contact information such as a telephone number, an address, and the name of the person in charge at facility 1, but it may simply be an ID assigned to each facility. In addition, the aspect of facility 1 can be changed in various ways as long as it is possible to distinguish facility 1 from other facilities. In this embodiment, the barcode 53 is affixed to the surface of the collection container 52 (see FIG. 3), and necessary information such as the name of the infectious disease to be tested, the name of the facility 1, and the planned collection period are printed on the surface of the collection container 52, and the collection container 52 is sent to the collection company 4. This allows information to be transmitted properly and completely just by looking at the collection container 52. However, these entries may be submitted as printed paper documents separately from the collection container 52, or may be transmitted to the collection company 4 as electronic data. The collection container 52 itself may be prepared by the collection company 4. As long as the determined collection location, planned collection period, information identifying the sample, and information identifying the facility 1 are transmitted to the collection company 4, various modifications are possible.

[0027] [Details of Process {3}] The requested sampling contractor 4 visits the facility 1, collects samples from the designated sampling location in the facility's sewage during the designated scheduled sampling period, and submits the samples together with information identifying the samples received at the time of the request to the contract analysis company 3. The method of sampling the samples will be described with reference to FIG. When the collector 4 arrives at the facility 1, he / she opens, for example, the manhole cover 29 based on the collection location information, and allows the sewage in the excrement wastewater manhole 27 to soak into the sample collection absorbent 51 included in the sample kit 50. The sample kit 50 has a structure in which the sample collection absorbent 51 is wrapped in a net, and is installed directly below the manhole cover 29 by being hung by a string (not shown). By hanging it by the string, even if it is exposed to garbage such as toilet paper that flows in a lot of sewage for a long time, the sample kit 50 swings when it collides with the garbage, so that it is possible to prevent the garbage from covering it, and the pathogens can be collected efficiently. The string is made of, for example, a wire net, and is fixed to the installation location by a fastening belt attached to the wire net, or a buckle adjuster may be provided, in which case adjustment in the height direction is easy. The fixing location of the string can be variously adapted as long as the sample kit 50 can swing by the tension of the fixed string. For ease of retrieval of the sample kit 50, it is preferable that the sample kit 50 be fixed to a manhole cover 29 or the like. This state is continued for the planned collection period, and after the planned collection period has elapsed, the sample collection absorbent 51 is pulled up from the wastewater manhole 27. The sample collection absorbent 51 is then squeezed to extract a liquid sample into the collection container 52. At this time, it is desirable to attach a barcode 53 to the collection container 52. The sample collection absorbent 51 is an absorbent material such as polymer or absorbent cotton placed in a bag-shaped net, and it is able to absorb wastewater during the collection period and capture irregular flushing from the toilet 21, making it possible to detect infectious pathogens without being affected by time fluctuations. At this time, the period from the start of collection to the time of removal is entered as the collection period on the collection container 52 and submitted to the contracted analysis company 3. In this way, the contracted analysis company 3 is notified of the collected sample together with information identifying the sample and the collection period. In this embodiment, the barcode 53 is used as information for identifying the sample, but as long as the sample can be identified, it may be a simple sequential number, a symbol, or other ID, or it may be a character combining the name of the facility 1 and the collection period. In addition, various measures may be taken as long as the sample can be distinguished from samples collected at other facilities or at other times. In addition, the collection period may be communicated to the management company 2 instead of to the analysis contract company 3. The period may also be expressed in a manner that includes both the date and time when collection started and the date and time when collection ended, or may be expressed as the date and time when collection started and the time span during which collection was performed. In addition, as long as the period during which the sample was collected can be identified, the form may be changed in various ways.

[0028] [Details of Process {4}] The contracted analysis company 3 that receives the sample analyzes the sample to obtain information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample, and reports the information, along with information identifying the sample, to the management company 2. The analysis contract company 3 pre-treats the sample in the collection container 52 and then performs an infectious disease testing method (or antigen test, etc.) that can confirm infection at the time of testing, such as a known PCR test. The procedure of the pre-treatment will be described with reference to FIG. 4. In the pretreatment in this embodiment, a first filtration container 61, antibody beads 62, a second filtration container 63, A pretreatment kit 60 equipped with an enzyme 64 and a third filtration container 65 is used.

[0029] The pre-processing procedure of this embodiment is generally as follows. The sample in the sampling container 52 is passed through a first filtering container 61 to remove relatively large particles. The filtrate is added with antibody beads 62 and stirred. These antibody beads 62 have antibodies that selectively capture the infectious pathogens to be detected immobilized on their surfaces, and commercially available beads can be used. Thereafter, the filtrate containing the antibody beads 62 is placed in a second filtration container 63 to extract the antibody beads 62 . The extracted antibody beads 62 are mixed with pure water 66 or the like, and an enzyme 64 is introduced thereto. The enzyme 64 selectively cleaves a portion of the antibody in order to cleave and release the antibody from the bead. The infectious pathogens released from the beads by cleavage of the antibodies are then introduced into a third filtration vessel 65 for separation from the antibody beads 62. The filtrate is then detected using a known infectious pathogen detection kit 70, for example a PCR test kit.

[0030] In this embodiment, the pretreatment kit 60 was used to pretreat the specimen, but depending on the type of infectious pathogen, the treatment may be completed only with the infectious pathogen detection kit 70 in the latter stage. As the infectious pathogen detection kit 70, for example, a kit using PCR, ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay), etc. may be used. Also, an analytical instrument combining liquid chromatography such as LCMS and a mass spectrometer may be used to detect the infectious pathogen. Also, the pretreatment kit 60 or the infectious pathogen detection kit 70 as described above may not necessarily be used for the pretreatment of the specimen or the subsequent detection of the infectious pathogen. In addition, various modifications are possible as long as the infectious pathogen can be detected.

[0031] The contracted analysis company 3 notifies the management company 2 of the numerical information in the barcode 53 as information identifying the sample, and, as the infectious pathogen detection result, the presence or absence of detection and the amount of infectious pathogen present per liter of sample. The result of the detection of an infectious pathogen may be merely the presence or absence of detection, or may be a level representation of the amount of the pathogen present. In addition, the form of the result may be changed in various ways as long as the information is capable of determining the possibility of the presence of an infected person.

[0032] [Details of Process {5}] Upon receiving the report, management company 2 will identify information identifying facility 1, the collection location, and the collection period based on the information identifying the reported sample, and provide this information to facility 1 along with information regarding the presence of infectious pathogens in the sample. In this case, information on the sampling location is not necessarily required, but information on the actual sampling period is essential in order to identify visitors who may be infected, as described below. Furthermore, the management company 2 may notify the results to the public health center 5 in order to help grasp the infected persons in the area and manage the stockpile of test kits for PCR tests, etc. In that case, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the manager of the facility 1 in advance to notify the public health center 5.

[0033] [Details of Process {6}] If the information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample indicates the presence of an infected individual, Facility 1 will identify those who stayed at Facility 1 during the collection period in which the sample was provided and conduct PCR tests on those individuals. At this time, since the facility's sewage may contain excrement from visitors prior to the sampling period, it is desirable to check the sampling period back to the time when a large amount of wastewater was discharged, such as the last time the bathroom 23 was cleaned or the kitchen 22 was used, and compare this with the visitor's stay period. However, the method of comparison can be changed in various ways, as long as it is possible to identify visitors whose stay includes at least a portion of the time period during the sampling period. This will allow measures such as isolation to be taken for residents who test positive and those who have come into close contact with them.

[0034] It is also possible for facility 1 to entrust the identification of visitors to management company 2. In that case, entry and exit information and personal IDs are entered into a ledger that manages entry and exit to facility 1, and the list is made available to management company 2, which can then check the stay period against the collection period and notify facility 1. This allows the manager of facility 1 to simply recommend or arrange for a PCR test for the visitor corresponding to the notified personal ID, making management easier. As only IDs are exchanged, this is preferable as it prevents personal information from leaking from facility 1 to management company 2.

[0035] [Embodiment 2] A Web system that further simplifies the above embodiment will now be described.

[0036] As shown in Fig. 5, the Web system according to this embodiment is composed of a management server 100, a collection agent terminal 101, a facility terminal 102, a contract analysis agent terminal 103, and databases stored in cloud storage, such as a facility DB 105, a collection plan DB 120, a collection result DB 130, and an analysis result DB 140, and a program 150 that runs on the management server 100. The collection agent terminal 101, the facility terminal 102, and the contract analysis agent terminal 103 can access the management server 100 via an Internet line. The management server 100 is also configured to be able to access each of the databases 105, 120, 130, and 140. The program 150 is either or a combination of a Web server program that issues HTML source code or an ASP program that runs on the server, and is configured to be able to access each of the above databases. Furthermore, facility terminal 102 is configured to be able to access visitor DB 110, which is a database stored in a separate storage device.

[0037] <Description of each database> The visitor DB 110 is a database having fields for facility ID, visitor ID, visitor name, length of stay, and PCR test history. The facility DB 105 is a database having fields for a facility ID, a facility name, a password, and contact information (such as the facility address, telephone number, and name of the person in charge). The collection plan DB120 is a database with fields including collection request ID, pathogen type requested, investigation facility information, investigation requester information, planned time to place collected samples, planned time to collect collected samples, planned collection date, planned collection location information, and collection requester information. The collection result DB 130 is a database having fields of a collected sample ID, a collection request ID, a collection business ID, and an actual collection period. Furthermore, the analysis result DB 140 is a database having fields of pathogen detection value, infection possibility determination result, analysis request date, analysis result notification date, and analyst ID.

[0038] <Explanation of Program 150> Next, a description will be given of the configuration of the program 150. The program 150 is roughly divided into a facility management program 151, an order management program 152, a collection management program 153, an analysis management program 154, and a test result management program 155.

[0039] The operation of each program constituting the program 150 will now be described. <Explanation of Facility Management Program 151> The facility management program 151 displays a web page that accepts new registration of facility 1 on the accessed terminal, for example, the facility terminal 102. When the web page is accessed from the facility terminal 102 or the like, the facility name, password, contact information, etc. can be entered, and these are registered in the facility DB 105 together with a newly assigned facility ID. The address, telephone number, name of the person in charge, etc. of facility 1 are registered as contact information.

[0040] <Explanation of Order Management Program 152> The order management program 152 displays a web page for accepting requests from facility 1 on the accessed terminal, for example, the facility terminal 102. When the web page is accessed from the facility terminal 102 or the like, a login screen is displayed and input of a facility ID and password is accepted. At that time, the facility ID and password are checked against data in the facility DB 105, and if authentication is successful, a new request page is displayed. On the new request page, when a new request is entered, a new collection request ID is assigned, the facility ID is stored in the survey facility information, and contact information is stored in the survey requester information, and the request is registered in the collection plan DB 120.

[0041] The order management program 152 displays a web page for the administrator when the administrator logs in using a separate ID. The administrator's web page displays the telephone number, address, and name of the person in charge of facility 1 from facility DB 105 for a newly accepted collection request ID, based on the contact information stored in the investigation requester information. This allows the person in charge at management company 2 to set the date and time of visit by calling facility 1, visit facility 1 based on the address and name of the person in charge, and registers the requested pathogen type, investigation requester information, scheduled time of sample placement, scheduled time of sample recovery, scheduled collection date, scheduled collection location information, collection requester information, etc., in the collection plan DB 120, based on the interview conducted during the visit. This allows the harvesting planning process (process {1} in FIG. 1) to be executed.

[0042] <Explanation of Collection Management Program 153> The collection management program 153 displays a Web page for the collection agent to access from the collection agent terminal 101. When the collection agent logs in with a collection agent ID, the Web page displays a list of cases registered in the collection plan DB 120 that have not yet been registered in the collection result DB 130, and an "Accept" button corresponding to each case. When the "Accept" button is clicked, the selected collection request ID and collection company ID are registered in the collection result DB 130 along with a new automatically assigned collected sample ID. The page displays the collected sample ID number and the corresponding barcode 53, which can be printed. The collection company 4 prints them on a sticker or the like and attaches them to the collection container 52. The collection company brings the collection container 52 and the sample collection absorbent 51, carries out the sample collection process (process {3} in FIG. 1), and enters the actual collection period on the web page, which is then registered in the collection result DB 130. This Web system can automatically carry out step {2} (request step) in Figure 1, but if the management company 2 is responsible for this request step, the management company 2 can access the Web page, assign individual collector IDs, and notify the collector 4 of this.

[0043] <Explanation of Analysis Management Program 154> The analysis management program 154 displays a web page for the contract analysis provider to be accessed from the contract analysis provider terminal 103. When the contract analysis provider logs in with the contract analysis provider ID, a screen for inputting the collected sample ID is displayed on the web page. By reading the barcode 53 affixed to the collection container 52 received from the collection provider with a barcode reader or by inputting the written collected sample ID on the screen with a keyboard, the corresponding collection request ID is read from the collection result DB 130, and the requested pathogen type corresponding to the collection request ID is read from the collection plan DB 120 and displayed on the web page, and the input of the pathogen detection value, infection possibility determination result, analysis request date, analysis result notification date, and analyst ID is also accepted. The contract analysis company 5 executes the pathogen analysis step (step {4} in FIG. 1) based on the requested pathogen type, inputs appropriate data into the received input items, and registers the data in the analysis result DB 140. The management company 2 can execute step {5} in FIG. 1 by checking the contents of the analysis result DB 140 and reporting the results to the facility 1.

[0044] <Explanation of Test Result Management Program 155> The test result management program 155 is executed by the facility terminal 102. When the test result management program 155 is executed from the facility terminal 102, the test result management program 155 accepts input of a facility ID and a password from the facility terminal 102. The input facility ID and password are then compared with the data in the facility DB 105. If the authentication is successful, the analysis result for the facility corresponding to the authenticated facility ID is read from the analysis result DB 140 and sent to the facility terminal 102. The person in charge at the facility 1 refers to the infection possibility determination result with the latest analysis result notification date from among the analysis results read from the analysis result DB 140, and if the infection possibility determination result indicates the presence of an infected person, the person in charge extracts a visitor ID whose actual collection period in the collection result DB 130 overlaps with the stay period in the visitor DB 110, and displays a list containing the visitor's name, stay period, and PCR test history on the screen of the facility terminal 102. The administrator of facility 1 submits the list to public health center 5 and requests a PCR test from a hospital or other facility. The results of the PCR test are added to the PCR test history and registered in the resident DB110. This will make it possible to prevent the occurrence of clusters by conducting individual infectious disease tests on a minimum number of visitors only when necessary. In this embodiment, the test result management program 155 is executed by the facility terminal 102, but it may be executed by the management server 100 and displayed as a Web page on the facility terminal 102. In this case, by making fields in the visitor DB 110 that can identify individuals inaccessible from the management server 100, it is possible to prevent personal information from leaking out.

[0045] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be modified within the scope of the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0046] [Various aspects] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the exemplary embodiments described above are examples of the following aspects.

[0047] (Item 1) An infectious disease testing method according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: A sampling step of sampling samples from the sewage discharged from the facility during a sampling period along the route of the sewage discharged from the facility until the sewage flows into a public sewer pipe; an analyzing step for analyzing the sample to obtain information regarding the presence of an infectious agent in the sample; and a notification step of notifying the facility of the information together with the collection period, The notified information and the collection period indicate the possibility that there is an individual infected with the infectious pathogen among those staying at the facility at least during the collection period.

[0048] (2) The method for testing for infectious diseases according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises: The sampling step may involve sampling a sample from a sewage manhole into which wastewater from toilets in the facility flows.

[0049] (3) The method for testing for infectious diseases according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises: Prior to the sampling step, the method may further include a sampling planning step of identifying locations within the facility's sewage from which the samples should be sampled and / or the sampling period during which the samples will be sampled.

[0050] (4) The method for testing for infectious diseases according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises: The collecting step may involve placing an absorbent for collecting samples in the sewage of the facility and then collecting the samples, and collecting a substance held in the absorbent as the sample.

[0051] (5) The method for testing for infectious diseases according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises: If the information indicates that there is a possibility that an individual is infected with the infectious pathogen among those staying at the facility during at least the collection period, a step of testing at least a portion of the individuals staying at the facility during the collection period for infection with the infectious pathogen may be further carried out.

[0052] (Item 6) An infectious disease management system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: a sampling result database that stores samples collected from the sewage during a sampling period along the route from the sewage discharged from a facility to the flow into a public sewer pipe, the sampling period being associated with information identifying the sample; an analysis result database that stores information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample obtained by analyzing the sample together with information identifying the sample; a visitor database that records information identifying a visitor at the facility together with the period of time that the visitor stayed at the facility; a computer program capable of accessing each of the databases; The computer program comprising: If the information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample indicates that there is a possibility that an individual infected with the infectious pathogen is present among those visiting the facility at least during the collection period, the system is capable of executing a step of extracting a list of those visitors whose period of stay at the facility overlaps with the collection period based on the data stored in each of the databases.

[0053] (7) The infectious disease control system described in paragraph 6 is: A facility database for storing information identifying the facility is further provided, The information identifying the facility includes a login ID and password, The computer program may include an input receiving means for receiving input of the login ID and the password, a means for authenticating the login ID and password, and a display means for displaying information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample for the facility corresponding to the authenticated login ID and a list of visitors. [Explanation of symbols]

[0054] 1. Facilities 2. Management Company 3. Contract Analysis Company 4...Collector 5. Health Center 21. Toilet 22. Kitchen 23...Bathroom 24···Bathroom / Hand-washing area 25. Laundry area 26...Drain pipe 27... Wastewater sewage manhole 28. Other sewage manholes 29. Manhole cover 30. Public Sewerage Facilities 31...Public sewer pipe 32...Public sewer 40. Sewage treatment plant 50 Collection Kit 51...Sample collection absorbent 52...Collection container 53...Barcode 60···Pretreatment kit 61...First filtration vessel 62...Antibody beads 63 Second filtration vessel 64...Enzyme 65...Third filtration vessel 70 Infectious pathogen detection kit 100 Management Server 101 Collector terminal 102 Facility terminal 103... Contract analysis company terminal 105 Facility Database 110...Visitor DB 120 Harvesting plan DB 130... Collection result DB 140...Analysis result DB 150 · · · Program 151 Facilities Management Program 152 Order Management Program 153 Harvesting Management Program 154 Analytical Management Program 155 Test Results Management Program

Claims

1. a visitor database in which information identifying a visitor at a facility and the period of stay during which the visitor stayed at the facility are stored in association with each other; a management server that can access the visitor database; An infectious disease testing system comprising: A computer program operating on the management server, a sampling period acquisition means for acquiring information regarding a sampling period during which a sample was collected from the sewage discharged from the facility; a pathogen presence information acquiring means for acquiring pathogen presence information, which is information regarding the presence of an infectious pathogen in the sample; An infectious disease testing system that functions as a visitor information extraction means that, when the pathogen presence information indicates the presence of an individual infected with the infectious pathogen, refers to the visitor database and extracts from the visitor database information identifying visitors at the facility whose period of stay overlaps with the period of sample collection.

2. a collection result database accessible by the management server, which stores information identifying the sample and information regarding the collection period of the sample in association with each other; an analysis result database accessible by the management server, which stores the pathogen presence information and the information for identifying the sample in association with each other; the collection period acquisition means acquires information regarding the collection period from the collection result database, 2. The infectious disease testing system according to claim 1, wherein the pathogen presence information acquisition means acquires the pathogen presence information from the analysis result database.

3. 2. The infectious disease testing system according to claim 1, wherein the collection period acquisition means and the pathogen presence information acquisition means acquire the information on the collection period and the pathogen presence information of the sample corresponding to said information, respectively, via an internet line.

4. The computer program further comprises:

2. The infectious disease testing system according to claim 1, further functioning as a list creation means for creating a list of visitors whose period of stay overlaps with the period of sample collection, based on the information extracted by the visitor information extraction means.

5. a facility database accessible by the management server, the facility database storing information identifying the facility; The information identifying the facility includes a login ID and a password, The computer program further comprises: an input receiving means for receiving input of the login ID and the password; functioning as an authentication means for authenticating the login ID and password inputted and accepted by the input acceptance means by comparing them with the information identifying the facility stored in the facility database; 5. The infectious disease testing system according to claim 4, wherein the list creation means creates the list for the facilities corresponding to the login ID authenticated by the authentication means, and causes the list and the pathogen presence information to be displayed on a display unit.

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