SARS-CoV-2, the novel Coronavirus, was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has since spread rapidly, causing millions of deaths worldwide. As in most countries of the world, in Brazil, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been catastrophic. Several studies have reported the fecal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 RNA titers from infected symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Therefore, the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can be used to track the virus spread in a population. In this study, samples of untreated wastewater were collected for 44 weeks at five sampling sites in the ABC Region (São Paulo, Brazil), in order to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 occurrence in the sewerage system. SARS-CoV-2 RNA titers were detected throughout the period, and the concentration ranged from 2.7 to 7.7 log 10 genome copies.L −1 , with peaks in the last weeks of monitoring. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between the viral load in wastewater and the epidemiological/clinical data, with the former preceding the latter by approximately two weeks. The COVID-19 prevalence for each sampling site was estimated via Monte-Carlo simulation using the wastewater viral load. The mean predicted prevalence ranged 0.05 to 0.38%, slightly higher than reported (0.016 ± 0.005%) in the ABC Region for the same period. These results highlight the viability of the wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 infection monitoring in the largest urban agglomeration in South America. This approach can be especially useful for health agencies and public decision-makers in predicting SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, as well as in local tracing of infection clusters.

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RESUMO A vigilância da qualidade dos esgotos sanitários pode representar uma ferramenta complementar para monitoramento de doenças infecciosas e prevenção de surtos epidêmicos, especialmente quando a capacidade para testes clínicos é limitada. Dessa maneira, o presente estudo descreve o detalhamento técnico de um método de baixo custo para a concentração e extração de ácidos nucleicos de amostras de esgoto sanitário como etapa prévia para a detecção de vírus e outros agentes patogênicos. Para validar a metodologia proposta, após as etapas de concentração e extração, analisaram-se a presença do ácido ribonucleico do SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) nas amostras, por meio de reação em cadeia da polimerase em tempo real. O ácido ribonucleico do vírus foi detectado em 80% das amostras de esgoto sanitário analisadas, comprovando o êxito do procedimento metodológico adotado. A detecção precoce de um patógeno associado ao trabalho de equipes multidisciplinares possibilita a prática da vigilância epidemiológica, que auxilia na tomada de decisões na Saúde Única — união indissociável entre a saúde animal, humana e ambiental.

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