Wolfe Marlene K, Archana Anand, Catoe David, Coffman Mhara M, Dorevich Samuel, Graham Katherine E, Kim Sooyeol, Grijalva Lorelay Mendoza, Roldan-Hernandez Laura, Silverman Andrea I, Sinnott-Armstrong Nasa, Vugia Duc J, Yu Alexander T, Zambrana Winnie, Wigginton Krista R, Boehm Alexandria B
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, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
Environ Sci Technol Lett. 2021 Apr 12;8(5):398-404. doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00184. eCollection 2021 May 11.
Published and unpublished reports show that SARS-CoV-2 RNA in publicly owned treatment work (POTW) wastewater influent and solids is associated with new COVID-19 cases or incidence in associated sewersheds, but methods for comparing data collected from diverse POTWs to infer information about the relative incidence of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, and scaling to allow such comparisons, have not been previously established. Here, we show that SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 concentrations in solids normalized by concentrations of PMMoV RNA in solids can be used to compare incidence of laboratory confirmed new COVID-19 cases across POTWs. Using data collected at seven POTWs along the United States West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast serving ∼3% of the U.S. population (9 million people), we show that a 1 log change in N gene/PMMoV is associated with a 0.24 (range 0.19 to 0.29) log change in incidence of laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Scaling of N1 and N2 by PMMoV is consistent, conceptually, with a mass balance model relating SARS-CoV-2 RNA to the number of infected individuals shedding virus in their stool. This information should support the application of wastewater-based epidemiology to inform the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially future viral pandemics.
已发表和未发表的报告表明，公共污水处理厂（POTW）进水和固体中的严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）RNA与相关排水区域内新的冠状病毒病（COVID-19）病例或发病率相关，但此前尚未建立用于比较从不同公共污水处理厂收集的数据以推断实验室确诊的COVID-19病例相对发病率信息并进行数据缩放以实现此类比较的方法。在此，我们表明，通过固体中戊型肝炎病毒（PMMoV）RNA浓度对固体中SARS-CoV-2 N1和N2浓度进行归一化处理后，可用于比较不同公共污水处理厂实验室确诊的新COVID-19病例的发病率。利用在美国西海岸、中西部和东海岸的7个公共污水处理厂收集的数据，这些污水处理厂服务于约3%的美国人口（900万人），我们发现N基因/PMMoV每变化1个对数，与实验室确诊的COVID-19发病率变化0.24（范围为0.19至0.29）个对数相关。从概念上讲，用PMMoV对N1和N2进行缩放与一个质量平衡模型一致，该模型将SARS-CoV-2 RNA与粪便中排出病毒的感染个体数量相关联。这些信息应有助于基于废水的流行病学应用，为应对COVID-19大流行及未来可能的病毒大流行提供参考。
