Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Apr 10;764:142929. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142929. Epub 2020 Oct 19.
Testing SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in wastewater has recently emerged as a method of tracking the prevalence of the virus and an early-warning tool for predicting outbreaks in the future. This study reports SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater influents and treated effluents of 11 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), as well as untreated wastewater from 38 various locations, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in May and June 2020. Composite samples collected over twenty-four hours were thermally deactivated for safety, followed by viral concentration using ultrafiltration, RNA extraction using commercially available kits, and viral quantification using RT-qPCR. Furthermore, estimates of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in different regions were simulated using Monte Carlo. Results showed that the viral load in wastewater influents from these WWTPs ranged from 7.50E+02 to over 3.40E+04 viral gene copies/L with some plants having no detectable viral RNA by RT-qPCR. The virus was also detected in 85% of untreated wastewater samples taken from different locations across the country, with viral loads in positive samples ranging between 2.86E+02 and over 2.90E+04 gene copies/L. It was also observed that the precautionary measures implemented by the UAE government correlated with a drop in the measured viral load in wastewater samples, which were in line with the reduction of COVID-19 cases reported in the population. Importantly, none of the 11 WWTPs' effluents tested positive during the entire sampling period, indicating that the treatment technologies used in the UAE are efficient in degrading SARS-CoV-2, and confirming the safety of treated re-used water in the country. SARS-CoV-2 wastewater testing has the potential to aid in monitoring or predicting an outbreak location and can shed light on the extent viral spread at the community level.
对污水中的 SARS-CoV-2 病毒载量进行检测，最近已成为一种追踪病毒流行情况的方法，也是预测未来疫情爆发的预警工具。本研究报告了 2020 年 5 月至 6 月在阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）的 11 个污水处理厂（WWTP）的污水进水和处理后的污水以及 38 个不同地点未经处理的污水中的 SARS-CoV-2 病毒载量。采集的 24 小时混合样本经过热处理以确保安全，然后使用超滤进行病毒浓缩，使用市售试剂盒提取 RNA，并使用 RT-qPCR 进行病毒定量。此外，还使用蒙特卡罗模拟了不同地区 SARS-CoV-2 感染的流行率。结果表明，这些 WWTP 的污水进水的病毒载量范围从 7.50E+02 到超过 3.40E+04 个病毒基因拷贝/L，有些工厂通过 RT-qPCR 检测不到病毒 RNA。还在全国不同地点采集的 85%未经处理的污水样本中检测到了该病毒，阳性样本中的病毒载量在 2.86E+02 到超过 2.90E+04 个基因拷贝/L 之间。还观察到，阿联酋政府采取的预防措施与污水样本中测量的病毒载量下降有关，这与报告的人群中 COVID-19 病例减少相符。重要的是，在整个采样期间，没有一个 WWTP 的废水检测呈阳性，这表明阿联酋使用的处理技术能够有效降解 SARS-CoV-2，证实了该国处理后再利用水的安全性。SARS-CoV-2 污水检测有可能有助于监测或预测疫情爆发地点，并能揭示社区层面病毒传播的程度。
