Wastewater surveillance for pathogens using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is an effective, resource-efficient tool for gathering additional community-level public health information, including the incidence and/or prevalence and trends of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may provide an early-warning signal of COVID-19 infections in a community. The capacity of the world’s environmental microbiology and virology laboratories for SARS-CoV-2 RNA characterization in wastewater is rapidly increasing. However, there are no standardized protocols nor harmonized quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. This paper is a technical review of factors that can lead to false-positive and -negative errors in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, culminating in recommendations and strategies that can be implemented to identify and mitigate these errors. Recommendations include, stringent QA/QC measures, representative sampling approaches, effective virus concentration and efficient RNA extraction, amplification inhibition assessment, inclusion of sample processing controls, and considerations for RT-PCR assay selection and data interpretation. Clear data interpretation guidelines (e.g., determination of positive and negative samples) are critical, particularly during a low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Corrective and confirmatory actions must be in place for inconclusive and/or potentially significant results (e.g., initial onset or reemergence of COVID-19 in a community). It will also be prudent to perform inter-laboratory comparisons to ensure results are reliable and interpretable for ongoing and retrospective analyses. The strategies that are recommended in this review aim to improve SARS-CoV-2 characterization for wastewater surveillance applications. A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the efficacy of wastewater surveillance was demonstrated during this global crisis. In the future, wastewater will play an important role in the surveillance of a range of other communicable diseases.
The transition of leadership within radiology practices is often not a planned replacement process with formal development of potential future leaders. To ensure their ongoing success, however, practices need to develop comprehensive succession plans that include a robust developmental program for potential leaders consisting of mentoring, coaching, structured socialization, 360-degree feedback, developmental stretch assignments, job rotation, and formal education. Succession planning and leadership development will be necessary in the future for a practice to be successful in its business relationships and to be financially viable.
The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to reduce/phase-out emissions and discharges of priority pollutants (PPs) in order to protect water bodies throughout the European Union (EU). According to the WFD, River Basin Management Plans should be developed for all relevant water bodies in order to implement appropriate measures for achieving 'good chemical status'. The ScorePP project is developing emission control strategies to reduce discharges of PPs into receiving waters on an urban (city) scale as a support to regulatory authorities, water utilities and relevant industries. Though the results are still preliminary it is clear that the existing EU regulations are powerful and full implementation should be encouraged. Substitution with alternative substances is not feasible for all PPs applications, and conventional wastewater treatment techniques are also not effective for all PPs. Hence an integrated approach is needed with emission control strategies comprising a combination of both source control and end-ofpipe treatment.
Emissions of the 'priority substances' specified in the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) must be significantly reduced by 2020 in order to satisfy the environmental quality standards defined for EU watercourses. Furthermore, emissions of substances classified as 'priority hazardous substances' must be progressively phased out until releases to the environment cease. The aim of the reported study was to compile knowledge about priority substance releases within the urban environment in order to facilitate the reduction/cessation of emissions of said substances. Production facilities, households, agriculture, construction sites, buildings, roads, and waste disposal were identified as major urban pollution source categories. According to literature studies about 17% of the identified sources could be described quantitatively with specific release factors. A further 19% could be linked to other types of quantitative data such as loads but not to specific release factors. Quantitative release data for the remaining 64% was not available.
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