Despite substantial advances in
knowledge and understanding about the Zika virus (ZIKV), limitations
in surveillance for this mainly asymptomatic infection constrain attempts
to characterize the epidemiological distribution of the virus. Monitoring
of fecal waste streams including sewage offers opportunities to track
the spread of arboviruses such as ZIKV, known to be present in fecal
waste and urine. To demonstrate the feasibility of ZIKV RNA detection
in sewage, we examined viral RNA decay in sewage from a local wastewater
treatment plant. We added ZIKV (MEX 1-44) to unpasteurized sewage
and stored the samples at 4, 25, or 35 °C for one month. We extracted
nucleic acids from the mixture using a QiaAmp Minelute Virus Spin
Kit and measured ZIKV RNA using a TaqPath Zika Virus Kit. We found
no appreciable decline in ZIKV RNA detection at 4 °C during the
month. We estimate that 90% decay of detectable ZIKV RNA occurred
after 21 days at 25 °C and after 8.5 days at 35 °C. Our
preliminary work suggests ZIKV RNA can remain detectable in sewage
over a range of temperatures and that sewage provides a cost-effective,
community diagnostic tool that deserves further investigation as a
novel epidemiologic surveillance approach.
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