Applied Ecology Research Center, Faculty of Sciences, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550012 Sibiu, Romania.
Preclinical Department, Faculty of Medicine, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550169 Sibiu, Romania.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 17;19(18):11725. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191811725.
Water is a risk factor for epidemics of waterborne diseases with effects on human health. In 2019, new viral pneumonia cases occurred in China and spread worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and accuracy of a wastewater-based epidemiological (WBE) monitoring tool in a SARS-CoV-2 hot spot (Sibiu City metropolitan area), namely to highlight the correlation between the number of infections on the days of sampling and the amount of viral RNA detected in wastewater. Wastewater samples were collected once a week, and viral RNA was extracted and quantified. In parallel, the daily number of SARS-CoV-2 infections was obtained from the local council. The correlation between the number of infections and viruses detected in sewage was measured by Pearson correlation coefficients. The results show the amount of viral RNA in the wastewater is directly correlated with the number of infections reported in the week up to the sampling day and also the number of infections reported for the sampling day. Moreover, correlation coefficients show the amount of viral RNA in wastewater increases in advance of the increase in reported infection cases. Therefore, WBE can be used as a tool for monitoring virus spread trends in human communities and can help anticipate the trend of this type of viral infection.
水是水传播疾病流行的一个风险因素，会对人类健康产生影响。2019 年，中国发生了新型病毒性肺炎病例，并在全球范围内传播。本研究的目的是评估基于废水的流行病学（WBE）监测工具在 SARS-CoV-2 热点地区（锡比乌城市大都市区）的可行性和准确性，即强调采样日的感染人数与废水中检测到的病毒 RNA 量之间的相关性。每周采集一次废水样本，并提取和定量病毒 RNA。同时，从地方议会获取 SARS-CoV-2 感染的每日数量。通过皮尔逊相关系数测量感染人数和污水中检测到的病毒之间的相关性。结果表明，废水中的病毒 RNA 量与采样日之前一周报告的感染人数以及采样日报告的感染人数直接相关。此外，相关系数表明废水中的病毒 RNA 量在报告的感染病例增加之前就已经增加。因此，WBE 可作为监测人群中病毒传播趋势的工具，并有助于预测此类病毒感染的趋势。
