Herrera-Uribe J, Naylor P, Rajab E, Mathews B, Coskuner Gulnur, Jassim Majeed S, Al-Qahtani M, Stevenson N J
Viral Immunology Group, School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Muharraq Wastewater Services Co. Muharraq STP, Hidd, Bahrain.
J Hazard Mater Adv. 2022 Aug;7:100082. doi: 10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100082. Epub 2022 May 10.
Wastewater-based epidemiology is a corroborated environmental surveillance tool in the global fight against SARS-CoV-2. The analysis of wastewater for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA may assist policymakers to survey a specific infectious community. Herein, we report on a long-term quantification study in Bahrain to investigate the incidence of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ∼260,000 population of Muharraq Island in Bahrain is served by a discrete sewerage catchment, and all wastewater flows to a single large Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with a capacity of 100,000 m/day. The catchment is predominately domestic, but also serves several hospitals and Bahrain's international airport. Flow-weighted 24-h composite wastewater samples for the period February 2020 to October 2021 were analyzed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 N1, N2 and E genes. A Spearman rank correlation demonstrated a moderate correlation between the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 N1, N2 and E genes in the wastewater samples and the number of COVID-19 cases reported on the same day of the sampling. SARS-CoV-2 viral genes were detected in wastewater samples shortly after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported by the health authorities in Bahrain by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The viral genes were detected in 55 of 65 samples (84.62%) during the whole study period and the concentration range was found to be between 0 and 11,508 RNA copies/mL across the viral genes tested (in average N1: 518.4, N2: 366.8 and E: 649.3 copies/mL). Furthermore, wastewater samples from two COVID-19-dedicated quarantine facilities were analysed and detected higher SARS-CoV-2 gene concentrations (range 27-19,105 copies/mL; in average N1: 5044, N2: 4833 and E: 8663 copies/mL). Our results highlight the potential use of RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection and quantification in wastewater and present the moderate correlation between concentration of SARS-CoV-2 genes with reported COVID-19 cases for a specified population. Indeed, this study identifies this technique as a mechanism for long term monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 infection levels and hence provides public health and policymakers with a useful environmental surveillance tool during and after the current pandemic.
基于废水的流行病学是全球抗击新冠病毒过程中一种经过验证的环境监测工具。分析废水中的新冠病毒核糖核酸（RNA）有助于政策制定者对特定感染群体进行监测。在此，我们报告了巴林一项长期定量研究，旨在调查新冠疫情期间废水中新冠病毒RNA的发生率。巴林穆哈拉格岛约26万人口由一个独立的污水集水区提供服务，所有废水都流入一座日处理能力为10万立方米的大型污水处理厂。该集水区主要处理生活污水，但也包括几家医院和巴林国际机场产生的污水。对2020年2月至2021年10月期间的流量加权24小时混合废水样本进行分析，以检测新冠病毒N1、N2和E基因的存在情况。斯皮尔曼等级相关性分析表明，废水样本中新冠病毒N1、N2和E基因的浓度与采样当天报告的新冠病例数之间存在中等程度的相关性。在巴林卫生当局通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）报告首例新冠病例后不久，就在废水样本中检测到了新冠病毒基因。在整个研究期间，65个样本中有55个（84.62%）检测到病毒基因，在所检测的病毒基因中，浓度范围为0至11,508个RNA拷贝/毫升（N1平均为518.4拷贝/毫升，N2平均为366.8拷贝/毫升，E平均为649.3拷贝/毫升）。此外，对两个新冠专用隔离设施的废水样本进行分析，检测到更高的新冠病毒基因浓度（范围为27至19,105拷贝/毫升；N1平均为5044拷贝/毫升，N2平均为4833拷贝/毫升，E平均为8663拷贝/毫升）。我们的研究结果突出了RT-qPCR在废水中检测和定量新冠病毒的潜在用途，并表明特定人群中新冠病毒基因浓度与报告的新冠病例数之间存在中等程度的相关性。事实上，本研究确定了该技术是长期监测新冠病毒感染水平的一种手段，从而在当前疫情期间及之后为公共卫生和政策制定者提供了一种有用的环境监测工具。
