Nationwide Trends in COVID-19 Cases and SARS-CoV-2 RNA Wastewater Concentrations in the United States
TLDR
In this article , the authors present results of a large nationwide SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring system in the United States, which profiles 55 locations with at least six months of sampling from April 2020 to May 2021.Abstract:
Wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising technology for population-level surveillance of COVID-19. In this study, we present results of a large nationwide SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring system in the United States. We profile 55 locations with at least six months of sampling from April 2020 to May 2021. These locations represent more than 12 million individuals across 19 states. Samples were collected approximately weekly by wastewater treatment utilities as part of a regular wastewater surveillance service and analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations. SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were normalized to pepper mild mottle virus, an indicator of fecal matter in wastewater. We show that wastewater data reflect temporal and geographic trends in clinical COVID-19 cases and investigate the impact of normalization on correlations with case data within and across locations. We also provide key lessons learned from our broad-scale implementation of wastewater-based epidemiology, which can be used to inform wastewater-based epidemiology approaches for future emerging diseases. This work demonstrates that wastewater surveillance is a feasible approach for nationwide population-level monitoring of COVID-19 disease. With an evolving epidemic and effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, wastewater-based epidemiology can serve as a passive surveillance approach for detecting changing dynamics or resurgences of the virus. read more
Citations
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Metrics to relate COVID-19 wastewater data to clinical testing dynamics
Amy Xiao,Fu-Ming Wu,Mary Bushman,Jianbo Zhang,Maxim Imakaev,Peter R. Chai,Claire Duvallet,Noriko Endo,Timothy B. Erickson,Federica Armas,Brian Arnold,Hongjie Chen,Franciscus Chandra,Newsha Ghaeli,Xiaoqiong Gu,William P. Hanage,Wei Lin Lee,Mariana Matus,Kyle A. McElroy,Katya Moniz,Steven F Rhode,Janelle R. Thompson,Eric J. Alm +22 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors demonstrate the utility of three new metrics to monitor changes in COVID-19 epidemiology: (1) the ratio between wastewater copy numbers of SARS-CoV-2 gene fragments and clinical cases (WC ratio), (2) the time lag between wastewater and clinical reporting, and (3) a transfer function between the wastewater and Clinical case curves.
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Rapid displacement of SARS-CoV-2 variant Delta by Omicron revealed by allele-specific PCR in wastewater
Wei Lin Lee,Federica Armas,Flavia Guarneri,Xiaoqiong Gu,Nicoletta Formenti,Fu-Ming Wu,Franciscus Chandra,G. Parisio,Hongjie Chen,Amy Xiao,Claudia Romeo,Federico Scali,Matteo Tonni,Mats Leifels,Fengjun Desmond Chua,G. Kwok,Joey YR Tay,Paolo Pasquali,Janelle R. Thompson,Giovanni Loris Alborali,Eric J. Alm +20 more
TL;DR: In this article , an allele-specific RT-qPCR was used to detect the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, which was shown to be associated with an infection advantage over Delta in vaccinated persons.
Journal ArticleDOI
Does normalization of SARS-CoV-2 concentrations by Pepper Mild Mottle Virus improve correlations and lead time between wastewater surveillance and clinical data in Alberta (Canada): comparing twelve SARS-CoV-2 normalization approaches
Rasha Maal-Bared,Yuanyuan Qiu,Qiaozhi Li,Tiejun Gao,Steve E. Hrudey,Sudha Bhavanam,Norma J. Ruecker,Erik Ellehoj,Bonita E. Lee,Xiao-Li Pang +9 more
TL;DR: In this article , the authors compared flow, population size and biomarker normalization impacts on the correlations and lead times for ten communities in twelve sewersheds in Alberta between September 2020 and October 2021 (n = 1024) to determine if normalization by Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV) provides any advantages compared to other normalization parameters (e.g., flow, reported and dynamic population sizes, BOD, TSS, NH3, TP).
Journal ArticleDOI
Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater treatment plants mirrors the pandemic trend in Hong Kong
Xiawan Zheng,Shuxian Li,Yu Deng,Xiaoqing Xu,Jiahui Ding,Frankie T. K. Lau,Chung In Yau,Leo L. M. Poon,Hein M. Tun,Tong Zhang +9 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors conducted a 6-month wastewater monitoring campaign from three WWTPs of different flow rates and catchment area characteristics, which serve 28 % (2.1 million people) of Hong Kong residents in total.
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Monitoring human arboviral diseases through wastewater surveillance: Challenges, progress and future opportunities.
Wei Lin Lee,Xiaoqiong Gu,Federica Armas,Mats Leifels,Fu-Ming Wu,Franciscus Chandra,Fengjun Desmond Chua,Ayesa Syenina,Hongjie Chen,Dan Cheng,Eng Eong Ooi,Stefan Wuertz,Eric J. Alm,Janelle R. Thompson +13 more
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors review the current state of knowledge and identify key factors that affect the feasibility of monitoring arboviral diseases by WBS to include viral shedding loads by infected persons, the persistence of shed ARs and the efficiency of their recovery from sewage.
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