Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho /UNESP, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biologia Geral e Aplicada, Av. 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, 13506900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil.
An Acad Bras Cienc. 2021 Dec 1;93(suppl 4):e20210163. doi: 10.1590/0001-3765202120210163. eCollection 2021.
SARS-CoV-2 is a new type of coronavirus capable to infect humans and cause the severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19, a disease that has been causing huge impacts across the Earth. COVID-19 patients, including mild, pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, were often seen to contain infectious fragments of SARS-CoV-2 in feces and urine samples. Therefore, studies to detect the new coronavirus in wastewater, which collect and concentrate human excreta, have been extremely useful as a viral tracking tool in communities. This type of monitoring, in addition to serve as a non-invasive early warning of COVID-19 outbreaks, would provide better predictions about the SARS-CoV-2 spread and strongly contribute to maintenance the global health. Although current methods to detect viruses in wastewater, based on molecular RT-PCR and RT-qPCR techniques, were considered as reliable and provided accurate qualitative and quantitative results, they have been facing considerable challenges concerning the SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. In this review, the methods used to detect the SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and the challenges to implement an international viral monitoring network were described. The article also addressed the emerging perspectives associated with the SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological surveillance in this environment and the importance of a worldwide collaboration to generate and disseminate the detection results.
新型冠状病毒（SARS-CoV-2）是一种能够感染人类并引发严重急性呼吸系统综合征（COVID-19）的新型冠状病毒，这种疾病已在全球范围内造成了巨大影响。COVID-19 患者，包括轻症、有症状前和无症状病例，粪便和尿液样本中经常存在传染性的 SARS-CoV-2 片段。因此，对污水中新型冠状病毒的检测研究，作为社区中病毒追踪工具非常有用，污水可以收集和浓缩人类排泄物。这种监测方式不仅可以作为 COVID-19 爆发的非侵入性早期预警，还可以更好地预测 SARS-CoV-2 的传播，并为维护全球健康做出重要贡献。尽管目前基于分子 RT-PCR 和 RT-qPCR 技术的检测病毒的方法被认为是可靠的，并提供了准确的定性和定量结果，但它们在 SARS-CoV-2 监测方面面临着相当大的挑战。在这篇综述中，描述了用于检测污水中 SARS-CoV-2 的方法，以及建立国际病毒监测网络所面临的挑战。文章还探讨了与该环境中 SARS-CoV-2 流行病学监测相关的新观点，以及全球合作以生成和传播检测结果的重要性。
