Partitioning of Viruses in Wastewater Systems and Potential for Aerosolization

Lee, Mari Titcombe; Pruden, Amy; Marr, Linsey C.

doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00105

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…the actual Ct would in fact be less than the modeled Ct for the evaluated conditions and viral inactivation would be more rapid than reported. Due to the dilute nature of the wastewater evaluated, the role of higher organic loading and particle association in protecting virus from disinfection remains unresolved, although recent studies using Ebola virus surrogates have suggested that the majority (~90%) of viral particles remain not particle associated [ 29 , 30 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disinfection of Ebola Virus in Sterilized Municipal Wastewater

et al. 2017

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Concerns have been raised regarding handling of Ebola virus contaminated wastewater, as well as the adequacy of proposed disinfection approaches. In the current study, we investigate the inactivation of Ebola virus in sterilized domestic wastewater utilizing sodium hypochlorite addition and pH adjustment. No viral inactivation was observed in the one-hour tests without sodium hypochlorite addition or pH adjustment. No virus was recovered after 20 seconds (i.e. 4.2 log10 unit inactivation to detection limit) following the addition of 5 and 10 mg L-1 sodium hypochlorite, which resulted in immediate free chlorine residuals of 0.52 and 1.11 mg L-1, respectively. The addition of 1 mg L-1 sodium hypochlorite resulted in an immediate free chlorine residual of 0.16 mg L-1, which inactivated 3.5 log10 units of Ebola virus in 20 seconds. Further inactivation was not evident due to the rapid consumption of the chlorine residual. Elevating the pH to 11.2 was found to significantly increase viral decay over ambient conditions. These results indicate the high susceptibility of the enveloped Ebola virus to disinfection in the presence of free chlorine in municipal wastewater; however, we caution that extension to more complex matrices (e.g. bodily fluids) will require additional verification.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disinfection of Ebola Virus in Sterilized Municipal Wastewater

et al. 2017

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“…Phage Phi6 and its bacterial host Pseudomonas syringae were kindly provided by Dr. Krista Wigginton's lab at University of Michigan. Pseudomonas phage Phi6 has been used as a model enveloped virus in virus recovery and persistence studies in wastewater and microdroplets ( Aquino de Carvalho et al, 2017 ; Fedorenko et al, 2020 ; Titcombe Lee et al, 2016 ; Ye et al, 2016 ). Phi6 was inoculated into 200 ml of wastewater samples at a concentration of 10 3 plaque forming unit per ml.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeted wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 on a university campus for COVID-19 outbreak detection and mitigation

Scott

Aubee

Babahaji

et al. 2021

Environmental Research

147

109

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Targeted wastewater surveillance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been proposed by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Wastewater Surveillance System as a complementary approach to clinical surveillance to detect the presence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) at high-density facilities and institutions such as university campuses, nursing homes, and correctional facilities. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of targeted wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA together with individual-level testing for outbreak mitigation on a university campus during Fall 2020 semester. Wastewater samples (n = 117) were collected weekly from manholes or sewer cleanouts that receive wastewater inputs from dormitories, community-use buildings, and a COVID-19 isolation dormitory. Quantitative RT-PCR N1 and N2 assays were used to measure SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid genes in wastewater. Due to varying human waste input in different buildings, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV) RNA was also measured in all samples and used to normalize SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 RNA wastewater concentrations. In this study, temporal trends of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples mirrored trends in COVID-19 cases detected on campus. Normalizing SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations using human fecal indicator, PMMV enhanced the correlation between N1 and N2 gene abundances in wastewater with COVID-19 cases. N1 and N2 genes were significant predictors of COVID-19 cases in dormitories, and the N2 gene was significantly correlated with the number of detected COVID-19 cases in dormitories. By implementing several public health surveillance programs include targeted wastewater surveillance, individual-level testing, contact tracing, and quarantine/isolation facilities, university health administrators could act decisively during an outbreak on campus, resulting in rapid decline of newly detected COVID-19 cases. Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 is a proactive outbreak monitoring tool for university campuses seeking to continue higher education practices in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…Even before the current pandemic, the aerosolization of wastewater systems was studied for its potential role in the viruses’ transmission ( Lee et al, 2016 ). Beyond the fecal-oral route, the aerosolized water that is contaminated by SARS-CoV-2 can be the much more dangerous transmission route ( de Oliveira 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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Partitioning of Viruses in Wastewater Systems and Potential for Aerosolization

Cited by 26 publications

References 35 publications

Disinfection of Ebola Virus in Sterilized Municipal Wastewater

Disinfection of Ebola Virus in Sterilized Municipal Wastewater

Targeted wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 on a university campus for COVID-19 outbreak detection and mitigation

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

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