Bognich Gabrielle, Howell Nathan, Butler Erick
Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics, Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, TX, USA.
College of Engineering, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX, USA.
Heliyon. 2024 Feb 11;10(5):e25927. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25927. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for the detection of agents of concern such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been prevalent in literature since 2020. The majority of reported research focuses on large urban centers with few references to rural communities. In this research the EPA-Storm Water Management Model (EPA-SWMM) software was used to describe a small sewershed and identify the effects of temperature, temperature-affected decay rate, flow rate, flush time, fecal shedding rate, and historical infection rates during the spread of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within the sewershed. Due to the sewershed's relative isolation from the rest of the city, its wastewater quality behavior is similar to a rural sewershed. The model was used to assess city wastewater sampling campaigns to best appropriate field and or lab equipment when sampling wastewater. An important aspect of the assessment was the comparison of SARS-CoV-2 quantification methods with specifically between a traditional microbiological lab (practical quantitation limit, PQL, 1 GC/mL) versus what can be known from a field method (PQL 10 GC/mL). Understanding these monitoring choices will help rural communities make decisions on how to best implement the collection and testing for WBE agents of concern. An important outcome of this work is the knowledge that it is possible to simulate a WBE agent of concern with reasonable precision, if uncertainties are incorporated into model sensitivity. These ideas could form the basis for future mixed monitoring-modeling studies that will enhance its application and therefore adoption of WBE techniques in communities of many sizes and financial means.
自2020年以来，基于废水的流行病学（WBE）用于检测如严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）等关注病原体在文献中已很普遍。大多数已报道的研究集中在大型城市中心，很少提及农村社区。在本研究中，美国环境保护局雨水管理模型（EPA-SWMM）软件被用于描述一个小型排水区域，并确定在SARS-CoV-2病毒的奥密克戎变种在该排水区域传播期间温度、受温度影响的衰减率、流速、冲洗时间、粪便排泄率和历史感染率的影响。由于该排水区域与城市其他地区相对隔离，其废水质量行为类似于农村排水区域。该模型用于评估城市废水采样活动，以便在对废水采样时选择最合适的现场和/或实验室设备。评估的一个重要方面是比较SARS-CoV-2定量方法，特别是传统微生物实验室（实际定量限，PQL，1个基因组拷贝/mL）与现场方法（PQL 10个基因组拷贝/mL）之间的比较。了解这些监测选择将有助于农村社区就如何最佳实施对关注的WBE病原体的采集和检测做出决策。这项工作的一个重要成果是，如果将不确定性纳入模型敏感性，就有可能以合理的精度模拟关注的WBE病原体。这些想法可为未来的混合监测-建模研究奠定基础，这将增强其应用，并因此在各种规模和经济状况的社区中采用WBE技术。
