Partnership in Alaska helps prevent serious health risks in remote villages

An upper respiratory infection that can cause serious health issues in young children, RSV occurs with a higher frequency among Alaska Natives than non-Natives in the state, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. Rates of hospitalization related to RSV are two to seven times higher in Alaska Native children than the rates for other children in the U.S. Although RSV antibodies can prevent severe illness in infants and some young children, local health providers often face difficulties connecting young Alaska Natives in remote communities with the antibodies that can keep them safe from infection. 

Recent efforts to address these health concerns are equipping Alaska Native communities with critical resources. In 2022, the CDC partnered to monitor wastewater with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, which serves 49 villages in southwestern Alaska. This coordinated effort gave the health corporation a valuable headstart to secure immunizations  ahead of RSV’s peak in 2023. Two weeks before the first RSV case was officially reported in a community where RSV hospitalization rates have been historically high, wastewater from the monitoring program gave an early signal to the health corporation to secure additional supplies of antibodies.  

The CDC highlighted the effective partnership on Sept. 21, explaining its community wastewater monitoring program as a tool tribes and regional health organizations can tap into “to build wastewater monitoring awareness, infrastructure, and expertise to strengthen the public health of their communities.”