Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage from buildings housing residents with different vulnerability levels
dc.contributor.author
dc.date.accessioned
2023-04-26T10:41:25Z
dc.date.available
2023-04-26T10:41:25Z
dc.date.issued
2023-05-10
dc.identifier.issn
0048-9697
dc.identifier.uri
dc.description.abstract
During the last three years, various restrictions have been set up to limit the transmission of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). While these rules apply at a large scale (e.g., country-wide level) human-to-human transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), occurs at a small scale. Different preventive policies and testing protocols were implemented in buildings where COVID-19 poses a threat (e.g., elderly residences) or constitutes a disruptive force (e.g., schools). In this study, we sampled sewage from different buildings (a school, a university campus, a university residence, and an elderly residence) that host residents of different levels of vulnerability. Our main goal was to assess the agreement between the SARS-CoV-2 concentration in wastewater and the policies applied in these buildings. All buildings were sampled using passive samplers while 24 h composite samples were also collected from the elderly residence. Results showed that passive samplers performed comparably well to composite samples while being cost-effective to keep track of COVID-19 prevalence. In the elderly residence, the comparison of sampling protocols (passive vs. active) combined with the strict clinical testing allowed us to compare the sensitivities of the two methods. Active sampling was more sensitive than passive sampling, as the former was able to detect a COVID-19 prevalence of 0.4 %, compared to a prevalence of 2.2 % for passive sampling. The number of COVID-19-positive individuals was tracked clinically in all the monitored buildings. More frequent detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater was observed in residential buildings than in non-residential buildings using passive samplers. In all buildings, sewage surveillance can be used to complement COVID-19 clinical testing regimes, as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater remained positive even when no COVID-19-positive individuals were reported. Passive sampling is useful for building managers to adapt their COVID-19 mitigation policies
dc.description.sponsorship
This research has been financed through donations obtained during La
Marató de TV3 in 2020, dedicated to COVID-19 within the project EpiSars
(544/C/2021). ICRA authors acknowledge the funding provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya through the Consolidated Research Group grants 2021 SGR 01282 ICRA-ENV and 2021 SGR 01283 ICRA-TECH and the funding from the CERCA program of the Catalan Government
Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Elsevier
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
dc.publisher
Elsevier
dc.relation.isformatof
Reproducció digital del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162116
dc.relation.ispartof
Science of The Total Environment, 2023, vol. 872, art. núm. 162116
dc.relation.ispartofseries
Articles publicats (D-B)
dc.rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.uri
dc.subject
dc.title
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage from buildings housing residents with different vulnerability levels
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.rights.accessRights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.type.version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.identifier.doi
dc.type.peerreviewed
peer-reviewed
dc.identifier.eissn
1879-1026
dc.description.ods
3. Salut i benestar
6. Aigua neta i sanejament