Understanding and managing uncertainty and variability for wastewater monitoring beyond the pandemic: Lessons learned from the United Kingdom national COVID-19 surveillance programmes

Wade, Matthew J.; Jacomo, Anna Lo; Armenise, Elena; Brown, Mathew; Bunce, Joshua T.; Cameron, Graeme; Fang, Zhou; Farkas, Kata; Gilpin, Deidre; Graham, David W.; Grimsley, Jasmine M. S.; Hart, Alwyn; Hoffmann, Till; Jackson, Katherine; Jones, Davey L.; Lilley, Chris; McGrath, John W.; McKinley, Jennifer; McSparron, Cormac; Nejad, Behnam Firoozi; Morvan, Mario; Quintela-Baluja, Marcos; Roberts, A. M. I.; Singer, Andrew C.; Souque, Célia; Speight, Vanessa; Sweetapple, Chris; Walker, Duard L.; Watts, Glenn; Weightman, Andrew J.; Kasprzyk-Hordern, Barbara

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127456

Cited by 144 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Further work is therefore needed on the accuracy of this normalization, for example by using a weighted normalization that takes into account both the accuracy and variability of the indicators selected for the watershed population estimate. The variability parameter has already been taken into account in recent works ( Wade et al, 2022 ) but, to our knowledge, the differences in accuracy have not been subjected to a weighting. One last point on this topic, the WWI does not currently allow for normalization of data by taking into account differences in external discharges to household water in two different WWTPs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of them worked on the correlation between quantification results and new cases ( Krivoňáková et al, 2021 ). Others have done extensive analysis on WBE uncertainty, including correction of quantification results with physico-chemical parameters, and have proposed solutions for automatic outlier detection ( Wade et al, 2022 ). Others sought a way to communicate results to the general public with a more interpretable indicator than concentration values, by estimating the effective reproductive number, Re, from wastewater data ( Huisman et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, to our knowledge, censoring of data below the LOQ has not been addressed in these studies. Outlier detection required additional modeling work and was not an integral part of the smoothing algorithm ( Wade et al, 2022 ). Moreover, the selected smoothing solutions did not allow to estimate the average error of the measurement chain on the analyzed samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A nationwide indicator to smooth and normalize heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 RNA data in wastewater

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A nationwide indicator to smooth and normalize heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 RNA data in wastewater

Cluzel

Courbariaux

Wang

et al. 2022

Environment International

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“…It has also been used as a valuable instrument to provide information about the emergence and abundance of SARS-CoV-2 strains (Nemudryi et al 2020;Rimoldi et al 2020;Crits-Christoph et al 2021;Jahn et al 2021). Many countries have already implemented a national wastewater surveillance system or program to support the government in formulating epidemic prevention policies for COVID-19, including the Netherlands (Rijksoverheid 2021), the USA (CDC 2021; Kirby et al 2021), the UK (Wade et al 2022), South Africa (NICD 2021), Japan (Takeda et al 2021) and others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

One-year surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from vulnerable urban communities in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil

Barbosa

Garcia

Bruni

et al. 2022

Journal of Water and Health

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The current COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the vulnerability of communities living in the urban outskirts and informal settlements. The lack of reliable COVID-19 case data highlights the importance and application of wastewater-based epidemiology. This study aimed to monitor the COVID-19 trends in four vulnerable urban communities (slums and low-income neighborhoods) in metropolitan São Paulo by assessing the SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral load in wastewater. We analyzed 160 samples from May 2020 to June 2021 with weekly or fortnightly samplings. The samples were ultracentrifuged with glycine elution and quantified by N1/N2 SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR. The results of positivity were 100% (Paraisópolis, Heliópolis and Cidade Tiradentes) and 76.9% (Vila Brasilândia). The new case numbers of COVID-19, counted from the onset of symptoms, positively correlated with SARS-CoV-2 N1 viral loads from the two largest communities (p<0.001). SARS-CoV-2 infectivity was tested in Vero E6 cells after concentration with the two techniques, ultrafiltration (Centricon® Plus-70 10 kDa) and sucrose cushion ultracentrifugation, but none of the evaluated samples presented positive results. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis from samples collected in March and August 2021 revealed the presence of the clade 20 J (lineage P.1) belonging to the most prevalent circulating variant in the country. Our results showed that wastewater surveillance data can be used as complementary indicators to monitor the dynamics and temporal trends of COVID-19. The infectivity test results strengthened the evidence of low risk of infection associated with SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.

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“…In general, wastewater surveillance of viral pathogens has several challenges. The complexity of wastewater matrices, the dilute nature of biomarkers in wastewater, difficulty in pinpointing the suitable sample locations, and the need for effective virus-concentrating methods often limit this method’s ability for quantitative predictions from the viral RNA [ 22 , 23 ]. Despite these challenges, findings from two reviews [ 24 , 25 ] that included studies up to July 2021 concluded that wastewater monitoring could be a useful tool for tracking COVID-19 spread.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance in Africa—A Rapid Review

Dzinamarira

Murewanhema

Iradukunda

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Wastewater-based epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in wastewater is desirable for understanding COVID-19 in settings where financial resources and diagnostic facilities for mass individual testing are severely limited. We conducted a rapid review to map research evidence on the utilization of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance in Africa. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization library databases for relevant reports, reviews, and primary observational studies. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Narrative synthesis of the findings from included primary studies revealed the testing methodologies utilized and that detected amount of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA correlated with the number of new cases in the studied areas. The included reviews revealed the epidemiological significance and environmental risks of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater. Wastewater surveillance data at the community level can be leveraged for the rapid assessment of emerging threats and aid pandemic preparedness. Our rapid review revealed a glaring gap in the primary literature on SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance on the continent, and accelerated and adequate investment into research is urgently needed to address this gap.

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Understanding and managing uncertainty and variability for wastewater monitoring beyond the pandemic: Lessons learned from the United Kingdom national COVID-19 surveillance programmes

Cited by 144 publications

References 97 publications

A nationwide indicator to smooth and normalize heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 RNA data in wastewater

A nationwide indicator to smooth and normalize heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 RNA data in wastewater

One-year surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from vulnerable urban communities in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil

Utilization of SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance in Africa—A Rapid Review

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