Zambrana Winnie, Catoe David, Coffman Mhara M, Kim Sooyeol, Anand Archana, Solis Daniel, Sahoo Malaya K, Pinsky Benjamin A, Bhatt Ami S, Boehm Alexandria B, Wolfe Marlene K
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States.
ACS ES T Water. 2022 May 12;2(11):2025-2033. doi: 10.1021/acsestwater.2c00050. eCollection 2022 Nov 11.
Monitoring wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 from populations smaller than those served by wastewater treatment plants may help identify small spatial areas (subsewersheds) where COVID-19 infections are present. We sampled wastewater from three nested locations with different sized populations within the same sewer network at a university campus and quantified SARS-CoV-2 RNA using reverse transcriptase droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR). SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations and/or concentrations normalized by PMMoV were positively associated with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases for both the sewershed level and the subsewershed level. We also used an antigen-based assay to detect the nucleocapsid (N) antigen from SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples at the sewershed level. The N antigen was regularly detected at the sewershed level, but the results were not associated with either laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases or SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations. The results of this study indicate that wastewater monitoring based on quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA using PCR-based methods is associated with COVID-19 cases at multiple geographic scales within the subsewershed level and can serve to aid the public health response.
对规模小于污水处理厂服务人口的群体的废水进行监测，可能有助于识别存在新冠病毒感染的小空间区域（子排水流域）。我们在大学校园的同一排水管网内，从三个具有不同规模人口的嵌套位置采集了废水样本，并使用逆转录液滴数字聚合酶链反应（PCR）对新冠病毒RNA进行了定量。无论是在排水流域层面还是子排水流域层面，新冠病毒RNA浓度和/或经微小病毒科微小病毒（PMMoV）标准化的浓度与实验室确诊的新冠肺炎病例呈正相关。我们还使用基于抗原的检测方法，在排水流域层面检测废水样本中新冠病毒的核衣壳（N）抗原。在排水流域层面经常检测到N抗原，但结果与实验室确诊的新冠肺炎病例或新冠病毒RNA浓度均无关联。本研究结果表明，基于使用基于PCR的方法对新冠病毒RNA进行定量的废水监测，与子排水流域层面多个地理尺度上的新冠肺炎病例相关，可有助于公共卫生应对。
