Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the Danube River in Serbia associated with the discharge of untreated wastewaters

Kolarević, Stoimir; Micsinai, Adrienn; Szántó-Egész, Réka; Lukács, Alena; Kračun-Kolarević, Margareta; Lundy, Lian; Kirschner, Alexander K. T.; Farnleitner, Andreas H.; Djukic, A Dragutin; Čolić, Jasna Franekić; Nenin, Tanja; Sunjog, Karolina; Paunović, Momír

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146967

Cited by 31 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…We found evidence of the human gut bacteriophage, crAssphage, at five out of our 6 sites on the Thames, confirming the presence of sewage in our samples (38), and evidence for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples from the Danube and Sava rivers in Serbia, with the same methodology, suggesting that if SARS-CoV-2 was present in the Thames, above our limit of detection, we would have found it. From Serbia, concentrations of the N1 gene from water samples collected from the Sava River in the declining phase of the fourth COVID-19 wave, were of the same order of magnitude as those found in December 2020: 5.97 × 103 to 1.32 × 104 copies/L (13), confirming that our method concentrates SARS-CoV-2 RNA with equal efficiency to other methods. Further, 10x more water was concentrated per sample from the Thames (10 litres) than from Serbia (1 litre).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

No evidence for environmental transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK’s largest urban river system: London as a case study

Ransome

Hobbs

Jones

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The presence of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated sewage has been confirmed in many countries but its incidence and infection risk in contaminated freshwaters is still poorly understood. The River Thames in the UK receives untreated sewage from 57 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), with many discharging dozens of times per year. We investigated if such discharges provide a pathway for environmental transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Samples of wastewater, surface water, and sediment collected close to six CSOs on the River Thames were assayed over 8 months for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and infectious virus. Bivalves were sampled as sentinel species of viral bioaccumulation. Sediment and water samples from the Danube and Sava rivers in Serbia, where raw sewage is also discharged in high volumes, were assayed as a positive control. We found no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or infectious virus in UK samples, in contrast to RNA positive water and sediment samples from Serbia. Furthermore, we show that infectious SARS-CoV-2 inoculum is stable in Thames water and sediment for < 3 days, while RNA remained detectable for at least seven days. This indicates that dilution of wastewater likely limits environmental transmission, and that infectivity should be embedded in future risk assessments of pathogen spillover.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

No evidence for environmental transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK’s largest urban river system: London as a case study

Ransome

Hobbs

Jones

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Up till now, the viral RNA of SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in sewage with wastewater in many countries and regions around the globe, and even in surface waters in some places. Some notable examples are listed alphabetically here, but are not limited to: Canada ( D'Aoust et al, 2021 ), Finland ( Hokajrvi et al, 2021 ), Germany ( Agrawal et al, 2021 ; Westhaus et al, 2021 ), Hong Kong ( Cheung et al, 2020 ; Xu et al, 2020b ), Hungary ( Roka et al, 2021 ), India ( Chakraborty et al, 2021 ; Kumar et al, 2021 ), Iran ( Tanhaei et al, 2021 ), Israel ( Bar-Or et al, 2021 ), Italy ( La Rosa et al, 2021 ), Mexico ( Coronado et al, 2021 ), Netherlands ( Medema et al, 2020 ), Pakistan ( Haque et al, 2021 ), Qatar ( Saththasivam et al, 2021 ), Saudi Arabia ( Alahdal et al, 2021 ), Serbia ( Kolarevic et al, 2021 ), Spain ( Randazzo et al, 2020 ), Switzerland ( Fernandez-Cassi et al, 2021 ), the United Kingdom ( Hillary et al, 2021 ; Martin et al, 2020 ), the United States ( Li et al, 2021c ; Sherchan et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2020b ), and Venezuela ( Chacin-Bonilla & Chacon, 2021 ).…”

Section: A Critical Review Of Related Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The freshwater environments and water safety are substantially jeopardized by SARS-CoV-2 RNA ( Mahlknecht et al, 2021 ). In fact, the natural water system such as rivers has already been detected with SARS-CoV-2 ( Coronado et al, 2021 ; de Oliveira et al, 2021 ; Kolarevic et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: A Critical Review Of Related Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Critical Role of Human Feces and Public Toilets in the Transmission of COVID-19: Evidence from China

Wang

Liu

2021

Sustainable Cities and Society

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The surprising spread speed of the COVID-19 pandemic creates an urgent need for investigating the transmission chain or transmission pattern of COVID-19 beyond the traditional respiratory channels. This study therefore examines whether human feces and public toilets play a critical role in the transmission of COVID-19. First, it develops a theoretical model that simulates the transmission chain of COVID-19 through public restrooms. Second, it uses stabilized epidemic data from China to empirically examine this theory, conducting an empirical estimation using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with appropriate instrumental variables (IVs). This study confirms that the wastewater directly promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city. However, the role of garbage in this transmission chain is more indirect in the sense that garbage has a complex relationship with public toilets, and it promotes the transmission of COVID-19 within a city through interaction with public toilets and, hence, human feces. These findings have very strong policy implications in the sense that if we can somehow use the ratio of public toilets as a policy instrument, then we can find a way to minimize the total number of infections in a region. As shown in this study, pushing the ratio of public toilets to the local population in a city to its optimal level would help to reduce the total infection in a region.

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“…Possible implications of the SARS-CoV-2 environmental shedding by wastewaters are the contamination of surface waters and its possible spill over to the wildlife. Even though SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in open surface waters ( Kolarević et al, 2021 ; Mahlknecht et al, 2021 ; Rimoldi et al, 2020 ), there is no evidence for a transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via water-food-environmental media ( Adelodun et al, 2021 ). To this date SARS-CoV-2 pandemic strain was not detected to circulate in free-ranging wildlife species which may be in contact with surface waters, wastewaters and human waste in general ( Colombo et al, 2021 ; Jemeršić et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 circulation in Croatian wastewaters and the absence of SARS-CoV-2 in bivalve molluscan shellfish

Brnić¹,

Lojkić²,

Škoko³

et al. 2022

Environmental Research

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The circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment has been confirmed numerous times, whilst research on the bioaccumulation in bivalve molluscan shellfish (BMS) has been rather scarce. The present study aimed to fulfil the knowledge gap on SARS-CoV-2 circulation in wastewaters and surface waters in this region and to extend the current knowledge on potential presence of SARS-CoV-2 contamination in BMS. The study included 13 archive wastewater and surface water samples from the start of epidemic and 17 influents and effluents from nine wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of different capacity and treatment stage, sampled during the second epidemic wave. From that period are the most of 77 collected BMS samples, represented by mussels, oysters and warty venus clams harvested along the Dalmatian coast. All samples were processed according to EN ISO 15216-1 2017 using Mengovirus as a whole process control. SARS-CoV-2 detection was performed by real-time and conventional RT-PCR assays targeting E, N and nsp14 protein genes complemented with nsp14 partial sequencing. Rotavirus A (RVA) real-time RT-PCR assay was implemented as an additional evaluation criterion of virus concentration techniques. The results revealed the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in nine influents and two secondary treatment effluents from eight WWTPs, while all samples from the start of epidemic (wastewaters, surface waters) were negative which was influenced by sampling strategy. All tertiary effluents and BMS were SARS-CoV-2 negative. The results of RVA amplification were beneficial in evaluating virus concentration techniques and provided insights into RVA dynamics within the environment and community. In conclusion, the results of the present study confirm SARS-CoV-2 circulation in Croatian wastewaters during the second epidemic wave while extending the knowledge on wastewater treatment potential in SARS-CoV-2 removal. Our findings represent a significant contribution to the current state of knowledge that considers BMS of a very low food safety risk regarding SARS-CoV-2.

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Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the Danube River in Serbia associated with the discharge of untreated wastewaters

Cited by 31 publications

References 25 publications

No evidence for environmental transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK’s largest urban river system: London as a case study

No evidence for environmental transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK’s largest urban river system: London as a case study

On the Critical Role of Human Feces and Public Toilets in the Transmission of COVID-19: Evidence from China

SARS-CoV-2 circulation in Croatian wastewaters and the absence of SARS-CoV-2 in bivalve molluscan shellfish

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