Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 500 Bartholomew Dr, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Mar 25;814:151947. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151947. Epub 2021 Nov 24.
Wastewater surveillance has been used as a tool for COVID-19 outbreak detection particularly where there was not capability in place for routine and robust individual testing. Given clinical reports that earlier detection is possible following infection from throat/nasal samples compared to fecal samples for COVID-19 patients, the utility of wastewater testing where robust individual testing is possible is less clear. The objective of this study was to compare the results of weekly required COVID-19 saliva tests to weekly wastewater monitoring for residential buildings (i.e., dormitories) located across three college campuses capturing wastewater from 80 to 441 occupants per sampling location. Sampling occurred during the spring semester of the 2021 academic year which captured the third wave of SARS-CoV-2 cases in the study region. Comparison of the saliva and wastewater testing results indicated that the wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations had a strong linear correlation with the previous week's percentage of positive saliva test results and a weak linear correlation with the saliva testing results surrounding the wastewater sampling (four days before and 3 days after). Given that no correlation was observed between the wastewater and the saliva testing from the following week, the weekly saliva testing captured spikes in COVID-19 cases earlier than the weekly wastewater sampling. Interestingly, the N1 gene was observed in buildings on all campuses, but N2 was observed in wastewater on only one of the campuses. N1 and N2 were also observed in sewer biofilm. The campus-specific challenges associated with implementation of wastewater surveillance are discussed. Overall, these results can help inform design of surveillance for early detection of SARS-CoV-2 in residential settings thereby informing mitigation strategies to slow or prevent the spread of the virus among residents in congregate living.
污水监测已被用作 COVID-19 爆发检测的工具，尤其是在没有常规和强大个体检测能力的地方。鉴于临床报告表明，与 COVID-19 患者的粪便样本相比，从喉咙/鼻腔样本中更早检测到感染的可能性更大，因此在能够进行强大的个体检测的情况下，污水检测的实用性不太明确。本研究的目的是比较每周需要进行的 COVID-19 唾液检测结果与每周对位于三个大学校园的住宅建筑（即宿舍）的污水监测结果，每个采样点可捕获 80 至 441 名居住者的污水。采样发生在 2021 学年的春季学期，该时期捕获了研究区域中 SARS-CoV-2 病例的第三波。唾液和污水检测结果的比较表明，污水中的 SARS-CoV-2 浓度与前一周阳性唾液检测结果的百分比呈强线性相关，与污水采样前后（前四天和后三天）的唾液检测结果呈弱线性相关。鉴于在下一周未观察到污水和唾液检测之间的相关性，每周的唾液检测比每周的污水采样更早地捕获了 COVID-19 病例的激增。有趣的是，在所有校园的建筑物中都观察到了 N1 基因，但在仅一个校园的污水中观察到了 N2。N1 和 N2 也在污水生物膜中观察到。讨论了与实施污水监测相关的校园特定挑战。总体而言，这些结果可以帮助设计针对 SARS-CoV-2 的早期住宅环境检测，从而为减缓或预防病毒在集体居住的居民中的传播提供缓解策略。
