Health and Environment Sciences School, Comahue National University, Neuquen 8300, Argentina.
Neuquén Provincial Thermal Organization (E.Pro.Te.N.), Neuquen 8349, Argentina.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 13;19(10):5923. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105923.
Copahue Thermal Center is characterized by the presence of mineromedicinal acidic waters with high temperatures, therapeutic peloids, and relevant consortia of extremophiles species, distributed in small natural pools which cannot be disinfected. The objective of this research was to investigate the survival of SARS-CoV-2 in Copahue's waters and its remaining infective capacity. In a first assay, a decrease of more than 50% of the initially viral load compared to the initially inoculated positive sample was detected for all the water samples analyzed. After that, two of the Copahue springs, which are used as an immersion bath in closed environments without going through any disinfection treatment, was selected to determine the viral viability. VERO cell infections were performed, with no cytopathic effect detected, but a strikingly high resistance of the virus, detecting its genome by real time PCR, during the seven days of study under laboratory conditions. SARS-CoV-2 survival in acid media was reaffirmed, which is a peculiarity for a covered virus. A decrease in the detectable viral load of the positive sample was found as the infection time passed, becoming completely negative in the subsequent blind passages. More research is needed to further study the feasibility of SARS-CoV-2 in mineromedicinal waters, especially natural acidic waters that cannot disinfected, in order to expand information about the risk to populations that are exposed to them.
Copahue 热疗中心的特点是存在高温的矿泉医用水、治疗泥以及分布在无法消毒的小型天然水池中的相关极端微生物种属共生体。本研究旨在调查 SARS-CoV-2 在 Copahue 水中的存活及其剩余感染能力。在第一个检测中，与最初接种的阳性样本相比，所有分析水样中的病毒载量都降低了 50%以上。之后，选择 Copahue 的两个温泉，这两个温泉被用作在不经过任何消毒处理的封闭环境中浸泡的浴场，以确定病毒的存活能力。进行了 VERO 细胞感染，但未检测到细胞病变效应，但在实验室条件下研究的七天内，通过实时 PCR 检测到病毒的基因组，表明其具有极高的抗性。SARS-CoV-2 在酸性介质中的存活得到了再次证实，这对于一种有包膜的病毒来说是一个特点。随着感染时间的推移，阳性样本中可检测到的病毒载量下降，在随后的盲传中完全呈阴性。需要进一步研究 SARS-CoV-2 在矿泉医用水中的可行性，特别是无法消毒的天然酸性水，以扩大有关接触这些水的人群面临的风险的信息。
