Food and Environmental Virology: Use of Passive Sampling to Characterize the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Viruses in Wastewater

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Fecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 leads to a renaissance of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as additional tool to follow epidemiological trends in the catchment of treatment plants. As alternative to the most commonly used composite samples in surveillance programs, passive sampling is increasingly studied. However, the many sorbent materials in different reports hamper the comparison of results and a standardization of the approach is necessary. Here, we compared different cost-effective sorption materials (cheesecloths, gauze swabs, electronegative filters, glass wool, and tampons) in torpedo-style housings with composite samples. Despite a remarkable variability of the concentration of SARS-CoV-2-specific gene copies, analysis of parallel-deposited passive samplers in the sewer demonstrated highest rate of positive samples and highest number of copies by using cheesecloths. Using this sorption material, monitoring of wastewater of three small catchments in the City of Dresden resulted in a rate of positive samples of 50% in comparison with composite samples (98%). During the investigation period, incidence of reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the catchments ranged between 16 and 170 per 100,000 persons and showed no correlation with the measured concentrations of E gene in wastewater. In contrast, constantly higher numbers of gene copies in passive vs. composite samples were found for human adenovirus and crAssphage indicating strong differences of efficacy of methods concerning the species investigated. Influenza virus A and B were sporadically detected allowing no comparison of results. The study contributes to the further understanding of possibilities and limits of passive sampling approaches in WBE.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12560-023-09572-1.

Related collections

Most cited references 46

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples

Yang Pan, Daitao Zhang, Peng Yang … (2020)

An outbreak caused by a novel human coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in Wuhan in December 2019, 1 and has since spread within China and to other countries. Real-time RT-PCR assays are recommended for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. 2 However, viral dynamics in infected patients are still yet to be fully determined. Here, we report our findings from different types of clinical specimens collected from 82 infected individuals. Serial samples (throat swabs, sputum, urine, and stool) from two patients in Beijing were collected daily after their hospitalisation (patient 1, days 3–12 post-onset; patient 2, days 4–15 post-onset). These samples were examined by an N-gene-specific quantitative RT-PCR assay, as described elsewhere. 3 The viral loads in throat swab and sputum samples peaked at around 5–6 days after symptom onset, ranging from around 104 to 107 copies per mL during this time (figure A, B ). This pattern of changes in viral load is distinct from the one observed in patients with SARS, which normally peaked at around 10 days after onset. 4 Sputum samples generally showed higher viral loads than throat swab samples. No viral RNA was detected in urine or stool samples from these two patients. Figure Viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in infected patients Viral load (mean [SD]) from serial throat swab and sputum samples in patient 1 (A) and patient 2 (B). (C) Viral load (median [IQR]) in throat and sputum samples collected from 80 patients at different stages after disease onset. (D) Correlation between viral load in throat swab samples and viral load in sputum samples. We also studied respiratory samples (nasal [n=1] and throat swabs [n=67], and sputum [n=42]) collected from 80 individuals at different stages of infection. The viral loads ranged from 641 copies per mL to 1·34 × 1011 copies per mL, with a median of 7·99 × 104 in throat samples and 7·52 × 105 in sputum samples (figure C). The only nasal swab tested in this study (taken on day 3 post-onset) showed a viral load of 1·69 × 105 copies per mL. Overall, the viral load early after onset was high (>1 × 106 copies per mL). However, a sputum sample collected on day 8 post-onset from a patient who died had a very high viral load (1·34 × 1011 copies per mL). Notably, two individuals, who were under active surveillance because of a history of exposure to SARS-CoV-2-infected patients showed positive results on RT-PCR a day before onset, suggesting that infected individuals can be infectious before them become symptomatic. Among the 30 pairs of throat swab and sputum samples available, viral loads were significantly correlated between the two sample types for days 1–3 (R2=0·50, p=0·022), days 4–7 (R2=0·93, p<0·001), and days 7–14 (R2=0·95, p=0·028). From 17 confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection with available data (representing days 0–13 after onset), stool samples from nine (53%; days 0–11 after onset) were positive on RT-PCR analysis. Although the viral loads were less than those of respiratory samples (range 550 copies per mL to 1·21 × 105 copies per mL), precautionary measures should be considered when handling faecal samples.

0 comments Cited 831 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Clinical and virological data of the first cases of COVID-19 in Europe: a case series

François-Xavier Lescure, Lila Bouadma, Duc Nguyên … (2020)

Summary Background On Dec 31, 2019, China reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in people at Wuhan, Hubei Province. The responsible pathogen is a novel coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We report the relevant features of the first cases in Europe of confirmed infection, named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with the first patient diagnosed with the disease on Jan 24, 2020. Methods In this case series, we followed five patients admitted to Bichat-Claude Bernard University Hospital (Paris, France) and Pellegrin University Hospital (Bordeaux, France) and diagnosed with COVID-19 by semi-quantitative RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swabs. We assessed patterns of clinical disease and viral load from different samples (nasopharyngeal and blood, urine, and stool samples), which were obtained once daily for 3 days from hospital admission, and once every 2 or 3 days until patient discharge. All samples were refrigerated and shipped to laboratories in the National Reference Center for Respiratory Viruses (The Institut Pasteur, Paris, and Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France), where RNA extraction, real-time RT-PCR, and virus isolation and titration procedures were done. Findings The patients were three men (aged 31 years, 48 years, and 80 years) and two women (aged 30 years and 46 years), all of Chinese origin, who had travelled to France from China around mid-January, 2020. Three different clinical evolutions are described: (1) two paucisymptomatic women diagnosed within a day of exhibiting symptoms, with high nasopharyngeal titres of SARS-CoV-2 within the first 24 h of the illness onset (5·2 and 7·4 log10 copies per 1000 cells, respectively) and viral RNA detection in stools; (2) a two-step disease progression in two young men, with a secondary worsening around 10 days after disease onset despite a decreasing viral load in nasopharyngeal samples; and (3) an 80-year-old man with a rapid evolution towards multiple organ failure and a persistent high viral load in lower and upper respiratory tract with systemic virus dissemination and virus detection in plasma. The 80-year-old patient died on day 14 of illness (Feb 14, 2020); all other patients had recovered and been discharged by Feb 19, 2020. Interpretation We illustrated three different clinical and biological types of evolution in five patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 with detailed and comprehensive viral sampling strategy. We believe that these findings will contribute to a better understanding of the natural history of the disease and will contribute to advances in the implementation of more efficient infection control strategies. Funding REACTing (Research & Action Emerging Infectious Diseases).

0 comments Cited 541 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Rapid and quantitative detection of human adenovirus DNA by real-time PCR.

Albert Heim, Carmen Ebnet, Gabi Harste … (2003)

Rapid diagnosis of human adenovirus (HAdV) infections was achieved by PCR in the recent years. However, conventional PCR has the risk of carry-over contamination due to open handling with its products, and results are only qualitative. Therefore, a quantitative "real-time" PCR with consensus primer and probe (dual fluorescence labelled, "TaqMan") sequences for a conserved region of the hexon gene was designed and evaluated. Real-time PCR detected all 51 HAdV prototypes. Sensitivity of the assay was

0 comments Cited 236 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Roger Dumke: roger.dumke@tu-dresden.de

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Food Environ Virol

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Food Environ Virol

Title: Food and Environmental Virology

Publisher: Springer US (New York )

ISSN (Print): 1867-0334

ISSN (Electronic): 1867-0342

Publication date (Electronic): 20 December 2023

Publication date PMC-release: 20 December 2023

Publication date (Print): 2024

Volume: 16

Issue: 1

Pages: 25-37

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.4488.0, ISNI 0000 0001 2111 7257, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Virology, , University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, ; Dresden, Germany

[2 ]Institute of Urban and Industrial Water Management, Technische Universität Dresden, ( https://ror.org/042aqky30) Dresden, Germany

Article

Publisher ID: 9572

DOI: 10.1007/s12560-023-09572-1

PMC ID: 10963477

PubMed ID: 38117471

SO-VID: ebb8fca0-cac9-4ef1-aa3d-fa54c5715485

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 24 August 2023

Date accepted : 18 November 2023

Funding

Funded by: Technische Universität Dresden (1019)

Open Access :

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Microbiology & Virology

Keywords: wastewater,monitoring,virus detection,passive sampling,wastewater-based epidemiology,sars-cov-2

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Microbiology & Virology

Keywords: wastewater, monitoring, virus detection, passive sampling, wastewater-based epidemiology, sars-cov-2

Food and Environmental Virology: Use of Passive Sampling to Characterize the Presence of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Viruses in Wastewater

Read this article at

Abstract

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 46

Viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples

Clinical and virological data of the first cases of COVID-19 in Europe: a case series

Rapid and quantitative detection of human adenovirus DNA by real-time PCR.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 74

Most referenced authors 539