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Article History

Received: 15 September 2025

Accepted: 19 November 2025

First Online: 2 February 2026

Declarations

:

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study was approved by the Gombe State Environmental Protection Agency (GOSEPA), Nigeria. The ethical approval reference number is ES/GOSEPA/ADM/S/38/V.I . All procedures involving environmental sampling were conducted in accordance with national and international guidelines for environmental health research. Although no human participants or biological tissues were directly involved in the study, verbal informed consent was obtained from the heads of households before wastewater sample collection. Participants were informed about the purpose of the study, assured of confidentiality, and their voluntary participation was respected. The need for written consent was waived by the ethics committee due to the non-invasive nature of environmental sampling and absence of identifiable human data.

: Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain data from any individual person, including individual details, images, or videos.