Simple SARS-CoV-2 concentration methods for wastewater surveillance in low resource settings

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 912; p. 168782
• Main Authors: Dehghan Banadaki, Mohammad, Torabi, Soroosh, Rockward, Alexus, Strike, William D., Noble, Ann, Keck, James W., Berry, Scott M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 20.02.2024
• Subjects: Infectious diseases; Low-resource setting; SARS-CoV-2; Viral concentration; Wastewater-based epidemiology; SARS-CoV-2; Viral concentration; Infectious diseases; Low-resource setting; Wastewater-based epidemiology
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168782

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) measures pathogens in wastewater to monitor infectious disease prevalence in communities. Due to the high dilution of pathogens in sewage, a concentration method is often required to achieve reliable biomarker signals. However, most of the current concentration methods rely on expensive equipment and labor-intensive processes, which limits the application of WBE in low-resource settings. Here, we compared the performance of four inexpensive and simple concentration methods to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples: Solid Fraction, Porcine Gastric Mucin-conjugated Magnetic Beads, Calcium Flocculation-Citrate Dissolution (CFCD), and Nanotrap® Magnetic Beads (NMBs). The NMBs and CFCD methods yielded the highest concentration performance for SARS-CoV-2 (∼16-fold concentration and ∼ 41 % recovery) and require <45 min processing time. CFCD has a relatively low consumable cost (<$2 per four sample replicates). All methods can be performed with basic laboratory equipment and minimal electricity usage which enables further application of WBE in remote areas and low resource settings. [Display omitted] •Application of WBE in low-resource settings is limited due to the complex and expensive equipment and processing techniques.•Four simple and inexpensive virus concentration methods were compared to recover SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater.•Calcium Flocculation-Citrate Dissolution and Nanotrap® Magnetic Beads showed the highest recovery efficiency of SARS-CoV-2.•Nanotrap® Beads offer electricity-free use, but Calcium Flocculation-Citrate Dissolution had the lowest time and cost burden.