SARS-cov-2 in wastewater
Rapid expert consultation on environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: summary report (2020)
This report summarizes the findings of the Rapid expert consultation on environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater that was organized by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health on 23 July 2020 in a virtual format. It aimed to facilitate a rapid exchange of current knowledge, experience and practices among countries that are in the forefront of research and environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Such surveillance can be employed as a complementary tool to clinical surveillance of COVID-19… “the uptake of environmental surveillance must not divert attention and resources away from clinical surveillance, essential public health response measures and maintaining safe operation of water supply, sanitation and hygiene services in communities and institutional settings”.
The Water Research Foundation Releases RFQ for SARS-CoV-2 Sewershed Sampling Study
The Water Research Foundation (WRF) released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify a research team to optimize sample design for the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 genes in sewage and wastewater. The research will encompass a range of scales by conducting a sampling and analytical program in multiple locations within well-characterized community sewersheds of varying size. This project was identified as a high-priority research need during WRF’s recent International Water Research Summit on Environmental Surveillance of COVID-19 Indicators. In addition to WRF funds, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed $150,000 in funding to support this technical, research and development project. The research team will develop an approach to understand the detection, variability, and dynamic range of SARS-CoV-2 genes in sewage and wastewater at three scales: a large urban sewershed, a medium-sized regional sewershed with small bore sewers, and a small regional system (e.g., rural township in the United States serviced by decentralized onsite systems, which will also help to inform potential approaches in remote and rural communities, as well as low- to middle-income countries). Deadline for Statements of Qualifications is 4:00 PM MDT on 10th August.
Rethinking wastewater risks and monitoring in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
Recently published article in top journal, Nature exploring the virus transmission in liquid phase. As the authors emphasise “evidence for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater systems is accumulating around the world. SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater are currently estimated by molecular approaches that quantify viral RNA rather than infective virions. Whether these approaches predominantly quantify fully functional virions rather than viral RNA fragments remains to be determined”. Very important to understand that we currently detect the virus RNA in wastewater not the virus.
Exploratory analysis of immunisation records highlights decreased SARS-CoV-2 rates in individuals with recent non-COVID-19 vaccinations
This is going to drive the anti-vaxxers crazy! Several ongoing clinical trials have assessed whether existing vaccines afford protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection through training immunity. Immunisation records from over 137,000 people who have had SARS-CoV-2 tests have been analysed for covariance with SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. The researchers found that seven vaccines (polio, Hemophilus influenzae type-B (HIB), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), varicella, pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13), geriatric flu, and hepatitis A / hepatitis B (HepA-HepB)) having been administered in the past 5 years are associated with decreased infection rates, even after adjusting for geographic SARS-CoV-2 incidence and testing rates, demographics, comorbidities, and number of other vaccinations.
This appears to be a particularly good way to protect otherwise vulnerable communities, because age, race/ethnicity, and blood group stratified analyses reveal significantly lower SARS-CoV-2 rate among black individuals who have taken the PCV13 vaccine.
Sewage analysis as a tool for the COVID-19 pandemic response and management: the urgent need for optimised protocols for SARS-CoV-2 detection and quantification
“This review aims at identifying the main issues for consideration, relating to the development of validated methodological protocols for the virus quantitative analysis in wastewater”. However, connecting environmental monitoring to clinical monitoring, and involvement of Health departments/authorities require further investigation for successful integration of sewage monitoring into pandemic response plan.
WBE: feasibility, economy, opportunities and challenges
Wastewater was computationally examined as a matrix for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Temperature and in-sewer travel time severely impact virus detectability and data need to be normalised (corroborating Wu et al., previous slide). One infected individual theoretically is detectable among 100 to 2,000,000 persons. WBE surveillance of populations is shown to be orders of magnitude cheaper and faster than clinical screening, but cannot fully replace it. Cost savings worldwide for one-time national surveillance campaigns are estimated to be in the million to billion US dollar range (US$), depending on a nation's population size and number of testing rounds conducted. 2.1 billion people could be monitored globally in 105,600 sewage treatment plants. For resource poor regions and nations, WBE may represent the only viable means of effective surveillance.