Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in three districts of the Buenos Aires metropolitan region, Argentina, throughout nine months of surveillance: A pilot study

Abstract

In the current pandemic of COVID-19, sewage surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 genome has been used to complement viral epidemiology in different countries. The aim of this work was to introduce and evaluate this wastewater-based tool in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a pilot study, surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from three districts of this area was performed for more than nine months from June 2020 to April 2021. Viruses present in the samples were concentrated using polyethylene glycol precipitation and quantified using RT-qPCR CDC N1 assay. Virus recovery for SARS-CoV-2 and a potential surrogate, bovine coronavirus Mebus strain, that shares the Betacoronavirus genus and structural characteristics with SARS-CoV-2, were evaluated after concentration and detection procedures. Recovery of both viruses did not differ significantly, with a median for SARS-CoV-2 and BCoV of 0.085 (95% CI: 0.021-0.179) and 0.262 (95% CI: 1.18 × 10 -5 -0.564) respectively. The concentration of SARS-CoV-2 genome in wastewater ranged from 10 -1 to 10 3 cg/ml, depending on the wastewater treatment plant, type of collection site, viral recovery of the concentration method and the epidemiological situation of the outbreaks. Significant correlations were observed between SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater and reported clinical cases, reinforcing the utility of this approach to monitor the epidemiological status of populations.

Artificial neural network-based estimation of COVID-19 case numbers and effective reproduction rate using wastewater-based epidemiology

“…This indicates that WBE approach likely allows about 4 days of early predication of future daily new cases, for the Utah sewage monitoring program. The reported early prediction capacity of WBE was between 2-24 days ( Ai et al, 2021 ; Barrios et al, 2021 ; Nemudryi et al, 2020 ; Róka et al, 2021 ; Rusiñol et al, 2021 ; Sangsanont et al, 2021 ). However, the leading time of prediction identified in this study by a modelling approach is more reliable as it was determined based on nearly 1.5 years of data from a comprehensive sewage monitoring program covering sewer catchments of various sizes, in comparison to other reports based on very limited data from few catchments.…”

High Intensity Violet Light (405 nm) Inactivates Coronaviruses in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) and on Surfaces

“…Additionally, the clinical respiratory tract infections show similarities [30]. Because of all these resemblances, BCoV has already been suggested and successfully employed as a SARS-CoV(-2) surrogate in many different applications [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

Spatial and Temporal Trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Wastewater Treatment Plants over 6 Weeks in Cape Town, South Africa

“…In LMICs, several studies have detected the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater including Argentina [27], Brazil [28] and India [29]. To our knowledge, this is the first study in an African setting that reports the spatial and temporal trends of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA signal in wastewater covering an entire Metro.…”