Research Group for Genomic Epidemiology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
PLoS One. 2019 Jan 14;14(1):e0210368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210368. eCollection 2019.
Human viral pathogens are a major public health threat. Reliable information that accurately describes and characterizes the global occurrence and transmission of human viruses is essential to support national and global priority setting, public health actions, and treatment decisions. However, large areas of the globe are currently without surveillance due to limited health care infrastructure and lack of international cooperation. We propose a novel surveillance strategy, using metagenomic analysis of toilet material from international air flights as a method for worldwide viral disease surveillance. The aim of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate a method for viral analysis of airplane toilet waste enabling simultaneous detection and quantification of a wide range of human viral pathogens. Toilet waste from 19 international airplanes was analyzed for viral content, using viral capture probes followed by high-throughput sequencing. Numerous human pathogens were detected including enteric and respiratory viruses. Several geographic trends were observed with samples originating from South Asia having significantly higher viral species richness as well as higher abundances of salivirus A, aichivirus A and enterovirus B, compared to samples originating from North Asia and North America. In addition, certain city specific trends were observed, including high numbers of rotaviruses in airplanes departing from Islamabad. Based on this study we believe that central sampling and analysis at international airports could be a useful supplement for global viral surveillance, valuable for outbreak detection and for guiding public health resources.
人类病毒病原体是主要的公共卫生威胁。可靠的信息准确描述和描绘了人类病毒在全球的发生和传播情况，对于支持国家和全球的重点设置、公共卫生行动和治疗决策至关重要。然而，由于医疗保健基础设施有限和缺乏国际合作，目前全球有大片地区缺乏监测。我们提出了一种新的监测策略，即利用国际航班厕所材料的宏基因组分析作为全球病毒性疾病监测的一种方法。本研究的目的是设计、实施和评估一种用于分析飞机厕所废物中病毒的方法，以便同时检测和定量多种人类病毒病原体。使用病毒捕获探针对 19 架国际飞机的厕所废物进行了病毒含量分析，然后进行高通量测序。检测到许多人类病原体，包括肠道和呼吸道病毒。观察到一些地理趋势，与来自北亚和北美地区的样本相比，来自南亚的样本中病毒种类丰富度显著更高，唾液病毒 A、甲病毒 A 和肠道病毒 B 的丰度也更高。此外，还观察到某些特定城市的趋势，包括从伊斯兰堡出发的飞机中存在大量轮状病毒。基于这项研究，我们认为在国际机场进行集中采样和分析可能是全球病毒监测的有益补充，有助于发现疫情爆发，并为公共卫生资源提供指导。
