tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Sci Total Environ
. 2023 Jul 25;165457.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165457. Online ahead of print. Association of wastewater SARS-CoV-2 load with confirmed COVID-19 cases at a university hospital in Sapporo, Japan during the period from February 2021 to February 2023
Keisuke Kagami[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Masaaki Kitajima[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hisashi Takahashi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Takanori Teshima[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nobuhisa Ishiguro[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Wastewater surveillance for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been used to monitor trends in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in a community without being influenced by clinical testing resources or healthcare-seeking behaviors. Since the rate of mortality from COVID-19 is higher in elderly patients with comorbidities, it is important to protect hospitalized patients from nosocomial infections caused by SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 dissemination within a hospital ward was mostly mediated by healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients. HCWs need to understand the occurrence of COVID-19 and reflect this in their infection control measures. The aim of the present study was to determine the potential of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater as a leading indicator of confirmed COVID-19 cases at a university hospital. The trend of the geometric mean RNA concentrations in wastewater collected in Sapporo corresponded well with that of the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases at Hokkaido University Hospital between February 15, 2021 and February 26, 2023 (Pearson's r = 0.8823, p < 0.0001). Our results showed that monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in municipal wastewater was useful for estimating the number of COVID-19 patients in healthcare facilities in the city.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare facility; Nosocomial infection; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater surveillance.
. 2023 Jul 25;165457.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165457. Online ahead of print. Association of wastewater SARS-CoV-2 load with confirmed COVID-19 cases at a university hospital in Sapporo, Japan during the period from February 2021 to February 2023
Keisuke Kagami[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Masaaki Kitajima[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hisashi Takahashi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Takanori Teshima[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Nobuhisa Ishiguro[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 37499823
- DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165457
Wastewater surveillance for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been used to monitor trends in SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in a community without being influenced by clinical testing resources or healthcare-seeking behaviors. Since the rate of mortality from COVID-19 is higher in elderly patients with comorbidities, it is important to protect hospitalized patients from nosocomial infections caused by SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 dissemination within a hospital ward was mostly mediated by healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients. HCWs need to understand the occurrence of COVID-19 and reflect this in their infection control measures. The aim of the present study was to determine the potential of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater as a leading indicator of confirmed COVID-19 cases at a university hospital. The trend of the geometric mean RNA concentrations in wastewater collected in Sapporo corresponded well with that of the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases at Hokkaido University Hospital between February 15, 2021 and February 26, 2023 (Pearson's r = 0.8823, p < 0.0001). Our results showed that monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in municipal wastewater was useful for estimating the number of COVID-19 patients in healthcare facilities in the city.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare facility; Nosocomial infection; SARS-CoV-2; Wastewater surveillance.