Use of wastewater surveillance for early detection of Alpha and Epsilon SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and estimation of overall COVID-19 infection burden

Genetic sequencing detected the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant in wastewater a month prior to the first COVID-19 case in Ahmedabad (India)

“…Non-random selection of samples for sequencing and nonhomogeneous result reporting might lead to skewed results that may fail to represent actual circulating variants concern (VOCs) and interest (VOIs). Presently, a decrease in COVID-19 diagnostic testing is predicted to delay the tracking of SARS-CoV-2 variants ( Vo et al, 2022 ). Significant delays may also occur between sampling, sequencing, and dissemination of results to public health authorities.…”

“…Similarly, sequencing by the Houston Health Department detected six Omicron-associated mutations from seven sewer sheds in Houston, Texas, on November 29, 2021, while the city's first clinical confirmation of Omicron was announced on December 1, 2021 ( Kirby et al, 2022 ). Likewise, Vo et al (2022) performed Amplicon-based whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples in Southern Nevada. Results showed the presence of Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Epsilon (B.1.429) lineages in December 2020, while clinical data failed to report them until January 2021.…”

Community-Scale Wastewater Surveillance of Candida auris during an Ongoing Outbreak in Southern Nevada

“…Since March 2020, wastewater samples have been routinely collected from local wastewater treatment facilities in Southern Nevada for wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Sample collection, processing, and SARS-CoV-2 analysis have been described previously. , In contrast to this SARS-CoV-2 monitoring approach, which relies on an analysis of the liquid (i.e., supernatant) fraction, C. auris monitoring for this study focused on pelleted solids from the same samples, as this relatively large organism (∼5 μm in length) is more likely to settle or adhere to solid particles.…”

“…One such approach is wastewater surveillance, which has gained renewed interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wastewater viral loads of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been used to estimate COVID-19 clinical cases and overall incidence , with the promise of serving as an early detection system . Accordingly, there have been calls for the expanded application of wastewater surveillance and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to other pathogens, including C.…”

An efficient method to enhance recovery and detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater

“…Additionally, respiratory secretions of SARS-CoV-2 through bath, shower, and laundry water are also captured in wastewater. Several studies have even reported successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 and variants in wastewater up to 14 days prior to clinically reported cases ( Karthikeyan et al, 2022 ; Vo et al, 2022 , Xie et al, 2022 ). Sensitivity analysis showed that the viral RNA could be detected in wastewater at 99% probability if there were higher than 38 new cases (range 17-97) per 100,000 people in the community ( Le, 2023 ; Li et al, 2023 ).…”