Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
J Appl Microbiol. 2021 Sep;131(3):1539-1554. doi: 10.1111/jam.15027. Epub 2021 Mar 15.
This study investigates enteric viruses in wastewater during an outbreak of acute hepatitis caused by hepatitis A virus (HAV) in a large metropolitan area. Emphasis is given to caliciviruses and HAV.
Metagenomic analysis was performed to characterize enteric viruses excreted by the population of Detroit MI, during a hepatitis A outbreak that occurred in 2017 and 2018. Additionally, HAV, norovirus GII, and sapovirus were quantified, using qPCR, in 54 untreated wastewater samples collected over the course of 4 months. Correlation analysis was performed to identify associations between the number of disease cases and HAV concentrations in wastewater. HAV obtained the highest relative abundance among other enteric viruses detected in wastewater metagenomes. Metagenomic analysis also detected several other enteric viruses including astrovirus, enterovirus and hepatitis E virus. Average sapovirus concentrations of 1·36 × 10 gc l were significantly greater than norovirus GII concentrations (2·94 × 10 gc l ). Additionally, norovirus GI and GII along with sapovirus GI.1 were detected using metagenomics. HAV loads in wastewater were significantly correlated with the number of disease cases reported 1 week after wastewater sampling.
Surveying untreated wastewater is a promising method for detecting early signs of hepatitis A outbreaks and for routine environmental monitoring of enteric viruses circulating in the environment.
Authors demonstrate the usefulness of metagenomics for genogrouping and enteric viral surveillance.
本研究调查了在一个大都市地区甲型肝炎病毒（HAV）引起的急性肝炎爆发期间废水中的肠道病毒。重点是杯状病毒和 HAV。
对来自密歇根州底特律的人群在 2017 年和 2018 年发生的甲型肝炎爆发期间排泄的肠道病毒进行了宏基因组分析。此外，使用 qPCR 定量检测了 54 个未经处理的废水样本中的 HAV、诺如病毒 GII 和星状病毒，这些样本在 4 个月的时间内采集。进行了相关分析，以确定疾病病例数与废水中 HAV 浓度之间的关联。在废水宏基因组中检测到的其他肠道病毒中，HAV 的相对丰度最高。宏基因组分析还检测到其他几种肠道病毒，包括星状病毒、肠道病毒和戊型肝炎病毒。平均 sapovirus 浓度为 1.36×10 gc l ，明显高于 norovirus GII 浓度（2.94×10 gc l ）。此外，还通过宏基因组学检测到诺如病毒 GI 和 GII 以及 sapovirus GI.1。废水中的 HAV 负荷与废水采样后 1 周报告的疾病病例数呈显著相关。
调查未经处理的废水是一种很有前途的方法，可以检测甲型肝炎爆发的早期迹象，并对环境中循环的肠道病毒进行常规环境监测。
作者证明了宏基因组学在基因分组和肠道病毒监测方面的有用性。
