Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Austria: development, implementation, and operation of the Tyrolean wastewater monitoring program

Abstract

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an effective approach for tracking information on spatial distribution and temporal trends of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the community level. Herein, the development, implementation, and operation of the wastewater monitoring program serving Tyrol – a federal province of Austria – are described. The development of this program was initiated by Tyrolean health authorities at the end of the first phase of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (May 2020). In close co-operation with the water sector and academic institutions, efficient and effective workflows and processes for wastewater surveillance were established. The monitoring program went into operation in November 2020. By the end of July 2021, a total of 5,270 wastewater influent samples collected at 43 sites were analyzed. The monitoring program provided valuable insights into the development of the pandemic situation in Tyrol and fulfilled several tasks that are of importance in different phases of the pandemic. It represented an early-warning system, provided independent confirmation of temporal trends in COVID-19 prevalence, enabled the assessment of the effectiveness of measures, alerted about bursts of disease activity, and provided evidence for the absence of COVID-19. These findings underline the importance of establishing national wastewater monitoring programs as a complementary source of information for efficient and effective pandemic management.

Viral variant-resolved wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at national scale

“…Nucleic acid extracted from the pellet after concentration were analysed via one-step RT-qPCR for presence of the N-gene of SARS-CoV-2 and passed on for sequencing library preparation. Experimental details have been described previously for each laboratory: Medical University of Innsbruck 30 ,TU Wien 31 , and University Innsbruck 32 .…”

“…Initially, PCR-based approaches were applied to detect viral RNA in the sewage [24][25][26][27][28][29] . Deduced virus titres were shown to robustly reflect prevalence rates in the catchments [30][31][32] and empower forecasts of infection dynamics for the near future 33 . The successful sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomes from WW was reported 34,35 and used to detect regional occurrence of selected virus variants based on the presence of characteristic mutations 25,26,29,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] .…”

Editorial: SARS-CoV-2 in water

“…In Tyrol (a federal province of Austria), wastewater monitoring programme was initiated by health authorities. Daleiden et al (2022) report on this programme and show how wastewater surveillance provided value as an early warning system; provided independent confirmation of temporal trends in COVID-19 prevalence; enabled the assessment of the effectiveness of measures, alerted about bursts of disease activity; and provided evidence for the absence of COVID-19. Camphor et al (2022) report data from Australia and illustrate the interpretation of wastewater data within a more traditional epidemiologic framework used for decision support by public health professionals.…”

Evaluation of RT-qPCR Primer-Probe Sets to Inform Public Health Interventions Based on COVID-19 Sewage Tests

“…The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed monitoring projects for SARS-CoV-2 in sewage across time scales and a wide range of geographies, which included examples of large-scale field tests, such as in the US, − Brail, , Austria, and the Netherlands, for implementing sewage surveillance to support COVID19 responses. Because most studies on wastewater-based epidemiology of COVID-19 are region-wide surveys by collecting samples at conventional sewage treatment facilities, the interpretation of sewage surveillance data of upstream catchments at the neighborhood level or individual building level by taking into considerations the impacts of concentration and detection methods could help demonstrate the true value of sewage surveillance.…”