Preliminary results of SARS-CoV-2 detection in sewerage system in Niterói municipality, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

This study presents preliminary results from a sewage-based surveillance to monitor the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the municipality of Niterói, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. By using ultracentrifugation method associated to quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) we detected SARS-CoV-2 in 41.6% (5/12) of raw sewage samples obtained from sewage treatment plants and sewers network in the city. This pioneer study carried out in Brazil aims to subsidise information for health surveillance concerning the viral circulation in different areas of the city and, revealed the insertion and importance of environmental virology in health public policies.

Wastewater-based epidemiology as a useful tool to track SARS-CoV-2 and support public health policies at municipal level in Brazil

“…After the first week, the other regions (eastern and northern) reported an increase in the number of cases reaching lower-income populations and several poorer communities in the municipality. The expansion of the disease to more vulnerable communities was accompanied by virus research in sewers, which explains the increase in SPs analyzed and in relation to the pilot project ( Prado et al., 2020 ).…”

“…Niterói reported the first COVID-19 case on March 12th, a few weeks after the first confirmed case in the country. The success in detecting SARS-CoV-2 in sewerage samples in this pilot project ( Prado et al., 2020 ) led us to expand sampling throughout the city thus adding environmental surveillance data to support decision making of local public health policies.…”

Approaches applied to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and perspectives post-COVID-19

“…Although there is no evidence that infectious SARS-CoV-2 is present in wastewater streams, samples can be submitted to heat treatment (e.g. 30 min at 60 °C) before opening containers to increase the safety of the workers who perform the analysis [ 28 , 29 ], since this procedure can inactivate the potentially infectious agents present in the samples. The effect of heat treatment of wastewater samples (e.g., pasteurization or autoclaving) on RNA signal intensity of coronaviruses is a topic with few insights and contradictory findings, that represents a research need.…”

SARS-CoV-2 Detection in Sewage in Santiago, Chile - Preliminary results

“…In this sense, the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage becomes relevant and there are several worldwide studies that demonstrate the importance of sewage-based surveillance. 6,7,8,9 We collected 24 hours composite raw sewage samples from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) which together process about 85% of wastewater generated in the city of Santiago (about 8 million inhabitants), i.e. La Farfana and El Trebal.…”