Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD 4103, Australia.
CSIRO Land and Water, Ecosciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Road, QLD 4102, Australia.
Water Res. 2022 Jun 30;218:118481. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118481. Epub 2022 Apr 20.
Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewer systems, upstream of a wastewater treatment plant, is an effective approach for understanding potential COVID-19 transmission in communities with higher spatial resolutions. Passive sampling devices provide a practical solution for frequent sampling within sewer networks where the use of autosamplers is not feasible. Currently, the design of upstream sampling is impeded by limited understanding of the fate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewers and the sensitivity of passive samplers for the number of infected individuals in a catchment. In this study, passive samplers containing electronegative membranes were applied for at least 24-h continuous sampling in sewer systems. When monitoring SARS-CoV-2 along a trunk sewer pipe, we found RNA signals decreased proportionally to increasing dilutions, with non-detects occurring at the end of pipe. The passive sampling membranes were able to detect SARS-CoV-2 shed by >2 COVID-19 infection cases in 10,000 people. Moreover, upstream monitoring in multiple sewersheds using passive samplers identified the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater one week ahead of clinical reporting and reflected the spatiotemporal spread of a COVID-19 cluster within a city. This study provides important information to guide the development of wastewater surveillance strategies at catchment and subcatchment levels using different sampling techniques.
在污水处理厂上游的污水系统中监测 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 是一种有效的方法，可以在具有更高空间分辨率的社区中更好地了解 COVID-19 的潜在传播情况。被动采样器为在无法使用自动采样器的污水管网中进行频繁采样提供了一种实用的解决方案。目前，由于对污水中 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 的命运以及对集水区中受感染个体数量的被动采样器的灵敏度了解有限，上游采样的设计受到阻碍。在这项研究中，采用了含有带负电荷膜的被动采样器，在污水系统中进行了至少 24 小时的连续采样。当沿主干污水管监测 SARS-CoV-2 时，我们发现 RNA 信号与稀释度成比例下降，在管道末端出现无法检测到的情况。被动采样膜能够检测到 10000 人中超过 2 例 COVID-19 感染病例所排出的 SARS-CoV-2。此外，使用被动采样器对多个污水流域进行的上游监测，在临床报告前一周就发现了废水中 SARS-CoV-2 的出现，并反映了城市内 COVID-19 集群的时空传播。本研究为使用不同采样技术在集水区和子集水区层面制定污水监测策略提供了重要信息。
