Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
J Med Virol. 2023 Feb;95(2):e28442. doi: 10.1002/jmv.28442.
Wastewater-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance enables unbiased and comprehensive monitoring of defined sewersheds. We performed real-time monitoring of hospital wastewater that differentiated Delta and Omicron variants within total SARS-CoV-2-RNA, enabling correlation to COVID-19 cases from three tertiary-care facilities with >2100 inpatient beds in Calgary, Canada. RNA was extracted from hospital wastewater between August/2021 and January/2022, and SARS-CoV-2 quantified using RT-qPCR. Assays targeting R203M and R203K/G204R established the proportional abundance of Delta and Omicron, respectively. Total and variant-specific SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater was compared to data for variant specific COVID-19 hospitalizations, hospital-acquired infections, and outbreaks. Ninety-six percent (188/196) of wastewater samples were SARS-CoV-2 positive. Total SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in wastewater increased in tandem with total prevalent cases (Delta plus Omicron). Variant-specific assessments showed this increase to be mainly driven by Omicron. Hospital-acquired cases of COVID-19 were associated with large spikes in wastewater SARS-CoV-2 and levels were significantly increased during outbreaks relative to nonoutbreak periods for total SARS-CoV2, Delta and Omicron. SARS-CoV-2 in hospital wastewater was significantly higher during the Omicron-wave irrespective of outbreaks. Wastewater-based monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants represents a novel tool for passive COVID-19 infection surveillance, case identification, containment, and potentially to mitigate viral spread in hospitals.
基于污水的 SARS-CoV-2 监测能够对特定污水流域进行无偏且全面的监测。我们对医院污水进行了实时监测,在总 SARS-CoV-2-RNA 中区分了 Delta 和奥密克戎变异株,使我们能够将其与加拿大卡尔加里三家拥有超过 2100 张住院床位的三级保健设施的 COVID-19 病例相关联。在 2021 年 8 月至 2022 年 1 月期间,从医院污水中提取 RNA,并使用 RT-qPCR 定量 SARS-CoV-2。针对 R203M 和 R203K/G204R 的检测分别确定了 Delta 和奥密克戎的比例丰度。污水中的总 SARS-CoV-2 和变异特异性 SARS-CoV-2 与特定变异 COVID-19 住院、医院获得性感染和暴发的数据进行了比较。96%(188/196)的污水样本呈 SARS-CoV-2 阳性。污水中总 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 水平与总流行病例(Delta 加奥密克戎)同步增加。变异特异性评估表明,这种增加主要是由奥密克戎驱动的。COVID-19 医院获得性病例与污水 SARS-CoV-2 的大幅飙升有关,与非暴发期相比,暴发期间 SARS-CoV-2、Delta 和奥密克戎的水平显著升高。奥密克戎波期间,医院污水中的 SARS-CoV-2 明显更高,无论是否暴发。基于污水的 SARS-CoV-2 及其变异株监测代表了一种用于被动 COVID-19 感染监测、病例识别、控制以及潜在地减轻医院病毒传播的新工具。