tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Sci Total Environ
. 2022 Jan 15;804:150264.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150264. Epub 2021 Sep 11.
A wastewater-based epidemiology tool for COVID-19 surveillance in Portugal
Sílvia Monteiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Daniela Rente[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Mónica V Cunha[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Manuel Carmo Gomes[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Tiago A Marques[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Artur B Lourenço[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Eugénia Cardoso[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Pedro Álvaro[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Marco Silva[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Norberta Coelho[SUP] 8 [/SUP], João Vilaça[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Fátima Meireles[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Nuno Brôco[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Marta Carvalho[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Ricardo Santos[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in wastewater produced interest in its use for sentinel surveillance at a community level and as a complementary approach to syndromic surveillance. With this work, we set the foundations for wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) in Portugal by monitoring the trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA circulation in the community, on a nationwide perspective during different epidemiological phases of the pandemic. The Charité assays (E_Sarbecco, RdRP, and N_Sarbecco) were applied to monitor, over 32-weeks (April to December 2020), the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the inlet of five wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), which together serve more than two million people in Portugal. Raw wastewater from three Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reference hospitals was also analyzed during this period. In total, more than 600 samples were tested. For the first weeks, detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was sporadic, with concentrations varying from 10[SUP]3[/SUP] to 10[SUP]5[/SUP] genome copies per liter (GC/L). Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA increased steeply by the end of May into late June, mainly in Lisboa e Vale do Tejo region (LVT), during the reopening phase. After the summer, with the reopening of schools in mid-September and return to partial face-to-face work, a pronounced increase of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was detected. In the LVT area, SARS-CoV-2 RNA load agreed with reported trends in hotspots of infection. Synchrony between trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in raw wastewater and daily new COVID-19 cases highlights the value of WBE as a surveillance tool, particularly after the phasing out of the epidemiological curve and when hotspots of disease re-emerge in the population which might be difficult to spot based solely on syndromic surveillance and contact tracing. This is the first study crossing several epidemiological stages highlighting the long-term use of WBE for SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital wastewater; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater-based epidemiology.
. 2022 Jan 15;804:150264.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150264. Epub 2021 Sep 11.
A wastewater-based epidemiology tool for COVID-19 surveillance in Portugal
Sílvia Monteiro[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Daniela Rente[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Mónica V Cunha[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Manuel Carmo Gomes[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Tiago A Marques[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Artur B Lourenço[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Eugénia Cardoso[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Pedro Álvaro[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Marco Silva[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Norberta Coelho[SUP] 8 [/SUP], João Vilaça[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Fátima Meireles[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Nuno Brôco[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Marta Carvalho[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Ricardo Santos[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34798759
- DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150264
Abstract
The presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in wastewater produced interest in its use for sentinel surveillance at a community level and as a complementary approach to syndromic surveillance. With this work, we set the foundations for wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) in Portugal by monitoring the trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA circulation in the community, on a nationwide perspective during different epidemiological phases of the pandemic. The Charité assays (E_Sarbecco, RdRP, and N_Sarbecco) were applied to monitor, over 32-weeks (April to December 2020), the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the inlet of five wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), which together serve more than two million people in Portugal. Raw wastewater from three Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reference hospitals was also analyzed during this period. In total, more than 600 samples were tested. For the first weeks, detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was sporadic, with concentrations varying from 10[SUP]3[/SUP] to 10[SUP]5[/SUP] genome copies per liter (GC/L). Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA increased steeply by the end of May into late June, mainly in Lisboa e Vale do Tejo region (LVT), during the reopening phase. After the summer, with the reopening of schools in mid-September and return to partial face-to-face work, a pronounced increase of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was detected. In the LVT area, SARS-CoV-2 RNA load agreed with reported trends in hotspots of infection. Synchrony between trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in raw wastewater and daily new COVID-19 cases highlights the value of WBE as a surveillance tool, particularly after the phasing out of the epidemiological curve and when hotspots of disease re-emerge in the population which might be difficult to spot based solely on syndromic surveillance and contact tracing. This is the first study crossing several epidemiological stages highlighting the long-term use of WBE for SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: COVID-19; Hospital wastewater; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater-based epidemiology.