Detection of Pathogenic Viruses in Sewage Provided Early Warnings of Hepatitis A Virus and Norovirus Outbreaks

Abstract

dMost persons infected with enterically transmitted viruses shed large amounts of virus in feces for days or weeks, both before and after onset of symptoms. Therefore, viruses causing gastroenteritis may be detected in wastewater, even if only a few persons are infected. In this study, the presence of eight pathogenic viruses (norovirus, astrovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus, Aichi virus, parechovirus, hepatitis A virus [HAV], and hepatitis E virus) was investigated in sewage to explore whether their identification could be used as an early warning of outbreaks. Samples of the untreated sewage were collected in proportion to flow at Ryaverket, Gothenburg, Sweden. Daily samples collected during every second week between January and May 2013 were pooled and analyzed for detection of viruses by concentration through adsorption to milk proteins and PCR. The largest amount of noroviruses was detected in sewage 2 to 3 weeks before most patients were diagnosed with this infection in Gothenburg. The other viruses were detected at lower levels. HAV was detected between weeks 5 and 13, and partial sequencing of the structural VP1protein identified three different strains. Two strains were involved in an ongoing outbreak in Scandinavia and were also identified in samples from patients with acute hepatitis A in Gothenburg during spring of 2013. The third strain was unique and was not detected in any patient sample. The method used may thus be a tool to detect incipient outbreaks of these viruses and provide early warning before the causative pathogens have been recognized in health care.

Deciphering the Diversities of Astroviruses and Noroviruses in Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents by a High-Throughput Sequencing Method

“…A seasonal effect in environmental water was also found in Spain (34,35), China (11), Japan (10), and Ireland (36). Moreover, as in some other studies (12,24,37), these results suggest a close link between the health status of the population and the viral loads in WWTP effluents.…”

Differential removal of human pathogenic viruses from sewage by conventional and ozone treatments

“…All primers and probes used for the detection are listed in Table A1. The method and conditions for the qPCR were as previously described (Hellmer et al, 2014). The qPCRs were performed on a 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystems), and all samples were tested in duplicate.…”

“…The human viruses belong to different viral families. The most common viruses that are widely dispersed in sewage around the world include hepatitis A virus, hepatitis E virus, rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus, astrovirus, parvovirus, coronavirus, poliovirus, and other enteroviruses (Hellmer et al, 2014;Laverick et al, 2004;Lodder and de Roda Husman, 2005). Not only human enteric viruses and animal pathogens, but also other viruses can be found in waters contaminated with sewage (Bosch, 1998;Cantalupo et al, 2011).…”

Adsorption of norovirus and ostreid herpesvirus type 1 to polymer membranes for the development of passive samplers

“…In this context, warning systems that are based on pathogen monitoring of water bodies could play a role in limiting the impact of these pathogens on shellfish (Hellmer et al . ).…”