Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4/5 in German wastewater

Wilhelm, Alexander; Schoth, Jens; Meinert-Berning, Christina; Bastian, Daniel; Ciesek, Sandra; Teichgraeber, Burkhard; Wintgens, Thomas; Weber, Frank-Andreas; Widera, Marek

doi:10.1101/2022.07.27.22278003

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

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SARS-CoV-2 specific cellular and humoral immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected and non-infected individuals

Urschel

Bronder

Klemis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Knowledge is limited as to how prior SARS-CoV-2 infection influences cellular and humoral immunity after booster-vaccination with bivalent BA.4/5-adapted mRNA-vaccines, and whether vaccine-induced immunity correlates with subsequent infection. In this observational study, individuals with prior infection (n=64) showed higher vaccine-induced anti-spike IgG antibodies and neutralizing titers, but the relative increase was significantly higher in non-infected individuals (n=63). In general, both groups showed higher neutralizing activity towards the parental strain than towards Omicron subvariants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.5. In contrast, CD4 or CD8 T-cell levels towards spike from the parental strain and the Omicron subvariants, and cytokine expression profiles were similar irrespective of prior infection. Breakthrough infections occurred more frequently among previously non-infected individuals, who had significantly lower vaccine-induced spike-specific neutralizing activity and CD4 T-cell levels. Thus, the magnitude of vaccine-induced neutralizing activity and specific CD4 T-cells after bivalent vaccination may serve as a correlate for protection in previously non-infected individuals.

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SARS-CoV-2 specific cellular and humoral immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected and non-infected individuals

Urschel

Bronder

Klemis

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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Potent induction of humoral and cellular immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 mRNA vaccination in dialysis patients with and without history of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Bronder

Mihm²,

Urschel

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Knowledge on immunogenicity of the bivalent Omicron BA.4/5 vaccine in dialysis patients and the effect of a previous infection is limited. Therefore, vaccine-induced humoral and cellular immunity was analyzed in dialysis patients and immunocompetent controls with and without prior infection. In an observational study, 33 dialysis patients and 58 controls matched for age, sex and prior infection status were recruited. Specific IgG, neutralizing antibody activity and cellular immunity towards the spike-antigen from parental SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron subvariants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.4/5 were analyzed before and 13-18 days after vaccination. The bivalent vaccine led to a significant induction of IgG, neutralizing titers, and specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell levels. Neutralizing activity towards the parental strain was highest, whereas specific T-cell levels towards parental spike and Omicron subvariants did not differ indicating substantial cross-reactivity. Dialysis patients with prior infection had significantly higher spike-specific CD4 T-cell levels with lower CTLA-4 expression compared to infection-naive patients. When compared to controls, no differences were observed between individuals without prior infection. Among infected individuals, CD4 T-cell levels were higher in dialysis patients and neutralizing antibodies were higher in controls. Vaccination was overall well tolerated in both dialysis patients and controls with significantly less adverse events among dialysis patients. In conclusion, our study did not provide any evidence for impaired immunogenicity of the bivalent Omicron BA.4/5 vaccine in dialysis patients. Unlike in controls, previous infection of patients was even associated with higher levels of spike-specific CD4 T cells, which may reflect prolonged encounter with antigen during infection.

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Wastewater Monitoring for Infectious Disease: Intentional Relationships between Academia, the Private Sector, and Local Health Departments for Public Health Preparedness

Ram,

Shuster,

Gable

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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The public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic stimulated stakeholders from diverse disciplines and institutions to establish new collaborations to produce informed public health responses to the disease. Wastewater-based epidemiology for COVID-19 grew quickly during the pandemic and required the rapid implementation of such collaborations. The objective of this article is to describe the challenges and results of new relationships developed in Detroit, MI, USA among a medical school and an engineering college at an academic institution (Wayne State University), the local health department (Detroit Health Department), and an environmental services company (LimnoTech) to utilize markers of the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, in wastewater for the goal of managing COVID-19 outbreaks. Our collaborative team resolved questions related to sewershed selection, communication of results, and public health responses and addressed technical challenges that included ground-truthing the sewer maps, overcoming supply chain issues, improving the speed and sensitivity of measurements, and training new personnel to deal with a new disease under pandemic conditions. Recognition of our complementary roles and clear communication among the partners enabled city-wide wastewater data to inform public health responses within a few months of the availability of funding in 2020, and to make improvements in sensitivity and understanding to be made as the pandemic progressed and evolved. As a result, the outbreaks of COVID-19 in Detroit in fall and winter 2021–2022 (corresponding to Delta and Omicron variant outbreaks) were tracked in 20 sewersheds. Data comparing community- and hospital-associated sewersheds indicate a one- to two-week advance warning in the community of subsequent peaks in viral markers in hospital sewersheds. The new institutional relationships impelled by the pandemic provide a good basis for continuing collaborations to utilize wastewater-based human and pathogen data for improving the public health in the future.

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Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.4/5 in German wastewater

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

SARS-CoV-2 specific cellular and humoral immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected and non-infected individuals

SARS-CoV-2 specific cellular and humoral immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected and non-infected individuals

Potent induction of humoral and cellular immunity after bivalent BA.4/5 mRNA vaccination in dialysis patients with and without history of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Wastewater Monitoring for Infectious Disease: Intentional Relationships between Academia, the Private Sector, and Local Health Departments for Public Health Preparedness

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