Preliminary Study of Sars-Cov-2 Occurrence in Wastewater in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The virus SARS-CoV-2, which has caused the recent COVID-19 pandemic, may be present in the stools of COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we aimed to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the population. Samples of untreated wastewater were collected from 33 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of different sizes within the Czech Republic. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was concentrated from wastewater and viral RNA was determined using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 11.6% of samples and more than 27.3% of WWTPs; in some of them, SARS-CoV-2 was detected repeatedly. Our preliminary results indicate that an epidemiology approach that focuses on the determination of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater could be suitable for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the population.

The detection and stability of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA biomarkers in wastewater influent in Helsinki, Finland

“…This is the first study reporting the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater influent in Finland. The presence of the biomarkers of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater influent samples collected during April and May 2020 from Viikinmäki WWTP, Helsinki, Finland, is in agreement with the national infectious disease register data regarding the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the municipalities of the Viikinmäki WWTP sewerage network area preceding the sampling and with studies conducted earlier in other countries (e.g., Ahmed et al, 2020a ; Haramoto et al, 2020 ; La Rosa et al, 2020a ; Medema et al, 2020b ; Mlejnkova et al, 2020 ; Arora et al, 2020 ). In the sample aliquots stored at 4 °C, −20 °C, and −75 °C and analyzed after storage herein, the SARS-CoV-2 RNA seemed surprisingly stable in these cold storage temperatures from 29 days to 64 and 84 days prior to carrying out the sample concentration and nucleic acid extraction.…”

Occurrence of various viruses and recent evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater systems

“…SARS-CoV2 quantitative analysis done by RT-qPCR. Direct flocculation using beef extract- glycine & centrifugation NA Total 112 untreated wastewater samples analysed 13/112 (11.6%) samples detected positive NA ( Mlejnkova et al, 2020 ) Israel Viral RNA recovered from concentrated wastewater samples using the RNeasy mini kit (QIAGEN) & Easy MAG (bioMerieux, France). SARS-CoV2 quantitative analysis done by RT-qPCR.…”

“…The 2/18 (11.1%) secondary and 5/5 (100%) untreated positive samples ( Balboa et al, 2020 ) from the Czech Republic were collected from April to June 2020. Among the 13/112 (11.6%) positive samples ( Mlejnkova et al, 2020 ) from Queensland, Australia, 2/9 (22%) were positive ( Ahmed et al, 2020 ). Among the Jaipur and Ahmedabad samples collected from India between May 3 and June 14, 2020 ( Arora et al, 2020 ) and May 8 and 27, 2020 ( Kumar et al, 2020 ), 2/6 (33.3%) and 20/20 (100%) were positive, respectively.…”

“…SARS-CoV-2 RNA is shed in body fluids, such as faeces, saliva, and sputum, and these fluids are often disposed of via wastewater systems ( Holshue et al, 2020 , Mallapaty, 2020 ). To date, studies have identified SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater systems of different countries, including Australia ( Ahmed et al, 2020 ), France ( Wurtzer et al, 2020 ), Italy ( La Rosa et al, 2020 ), the Netherlands ( Medema et al, 2020 ), Spain ( Randazzo et al, 2020 ), the Czech Republic ( Mlejnkova et al, 2020 ), Japan ( Haramoto et al, 2020 ), Turkey ( Kocamemi et al, 2020 ), Israel ( Or et al, 2020 ), India ( Kumar et al, 2020 ), Pakistan, ( Sharif, , Yaqub et al, 2020 ), China ( Chen et al, 2020 , Zhang et al, 2020 ) and the USA ( Wu et al, 2020 ). Based on these studies, clear evidence of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage is available, and this transmission pathway increases the risk of human exposure to the virus.…”

Uncertainties in estimating SARS-CoV-2 prevalence by wastewater-based epidemiology

“…human excretion), and catchment population, the catchment-level prevalence can be estimated. To date, the existence of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in wastewater have been confirmed in many countries, including, Australia [8] , [9] , Brazil [10] , China [11] , [12] , Czech Republic [13] , Ecuador [14] , France [15] , [16] , India [17] , [18] , Italy [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , Japan [23] , Spain [24] , [25] , the Netherlands [7] , United Kingdom (UK) [26] , Slovenia [27] , Sweden [28] , United Arab Emirates (UAE) [29] , [30] and United States (USA) [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] . The successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA through reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and sequencing approaches in wastewater demonstrated the high potential of applying WBE as a tool to estimate the COVID-19 prevalence in their communities.…”