Preliminary Study of Sars-Cov-2 Occurrence in Wastewater in the Czech Republic

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 17; no. 15; p. 5508
• Main Authors: Mlejnkova, Hana, Sovova, Katerina, Vasickova, Petra, Ocenaskova, Vera, Jasikova, Lucie, Juranova, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 30.07.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Communication; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - virology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Czech Republic - epidemiology; Disease transmission; Efficiency; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Feces; Feces - virology; Genomes; Humans; Infections; Middle East respiratory syndrome; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Polymerase chain reaction; Population; Process controls; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Respiratory diseases; Reverse transcription; RNA, Viral; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Surveillance; Viral diseases; Viruses; Wastewater - virology; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Czech Republic; Italy; France; United States > US; Germany; SARS-CoV-2; wastewater; epidemic; coronavirus; early warning system; wastewater-based epidemiology; RT-qPCR; virus
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17155508

The virus SARS-CoV-2, which has caused the recent COVID-19 pandemic, may be present in the stools of COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we aimed to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the population. Samples of untreated wastewater were collected from 33 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of different sizes within the Czech Republic. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was concentrated from wastewater and viral RNA was determined using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 11.6% of samples and more than 27.3% of WWTPs; in some of them, SARS-CoV-2 was detected repeatedly. Our preliminary results indicate that an epidemiology approach that focuses on the determination of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater could be suitable for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the population.