Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater

Sewer analysis may provide most relevant information on the localization of areas where COVID-19 cases reappear, enabling immediate response to prevent spread of the outbreak. Nevertheless, it represents a more laborious and costly approach that surveillance through WWTP monitoring. 

Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater anticipates the occurrence of COVID-19 cases

Gemma Chavarria-Miró, Eduard Anfruns-Estrada, Susana Guix, Miquel Paraira, Belén Galofré, Gloria Sánchez, Rosa M. Pintó1, Albert Bosch1

1 These authors were co–principal investigators.

Affiliations:

Enteric Virus laboratory, Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Section of Microbiology, Virology and Biotechnology, School of Biology, and Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

University of Barcelona, Spain. (G. Echevarria-Miró, E. Anfruns-Estrada, S. Guix, R.M. Pintó, A. Bosch)

Aigües de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (M. Paraira, B. Galofré)

Department of Preservation and Food Safety Technologies, Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, IATA-CSIC, Paterna, Valencia, Spain. (G. Sánchez)

Running Title: Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater 

Poop Surveillance

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anemj/we-need-a-national-poop-testing-strategy-to-stop-mutant-coronavirus-strains

Poop – Could Be Our New “Secret” Weapon Against Mutant COVID Strains

Bend Over the Individual Poop Test Maybe On its Way

Your POOP Could Solve the Coronavirus

Genomic Surveillance

Is the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub creating a new business of testing your POOP?

Y E S

Read what an epidemiologist and senior biosecurity fellow at the nonprofit Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has to say . . . 

Sewer Poop Video Here:

Full Article here:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anemj/we-need-a-national-poop-testing-strategy-to-stop-mutant-coronavirus-strains

Poop Could Be Our New Secret Weapon Against Mutant COVID Strains

“There’s a lot of utility in being able to understand, kind of as a sentinel surveillance system, what’s going on within a community without having to go out and and stick a swab up thousands of people’s noses,” said Patrick Ayscue, an epidemiologist and senior biosecurity fellow at the nonprofit Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. 

Test community Sewer Systems to combat the new variants

In these communities, wastewater testing has already proven it can spot problems early. 

“It’s not just a measure of how much there is right now; it’s also a measure of what’s coming,” said Nour Sharara, a public health expert at BioBot.

“As soon as people are infected, they start shedding the virus, before they start showing symptoms. Some people take five days to develop symptoms. But during those five days, we can already see it in the sewage, because it’s in their stool.”

To combat the new variants, the same technology would need to be ramped up and paired with a process known as “genomic surveillance,” which means analyzing samples to determine their strain.

If you missed this testing your sewer video – watch now! AGAIN

Sewer Plant analysis – such a system includes people who aren’t getting tested, either because they’re asymptomatic or only recently caught the virus, or they aren’t taking the pandemic seriously. 

Checking NEIGHBORHOOD feces for coronavirus is that everyone poops.

A patchwork of communities around the country are already monitoring sewage for coronavirus. But these programs are focused on the amount of virus rather than the type. 

The University of Arizona tests wastewater coming out of individual dorms, in a program that allowed administrators to find three COVID-positive students during the first week of classes last fall, before they sparked a wider contagion

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, uses a wastewater testing system run by the private company BioBot to help determine whether schools should be open or shut. The city posts results on a website, which says that as of February 1, local wastewater contained 446 viral particles per milliliter.  

In these communities, wastewater testing has already proven it can spot problems early. 

“It’s not just a measure of how much there is right now; it’s also a measure of what’s coming,” said Nour Sharara, a public health expert at BioBot. (the nonprofit Chan Zuckerberg Biohub).

“As soon as people are infected, they start shedding the virus, before they start showing symptoms. Some people take five days to develop symptoms. But during those five days, we can already see it in the sewage, because it’s in their stool.”

To combat the new variants, the same technology would need to be ramped up and paired with a process known as “genomic surveillance,” which means analyzing samples to determine their strain. 

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, uses a wastewater testing system run by the private company BioBot to help determine whether schools should be open or shut. The city posts results on a website, which says that as of February 1, local wastewater contained 446 viral particles per milliliter.  

In these communities, wastewater testing has already proven it can spot problems early. 

“It’s not just a measure of how much there is right now; it’s also a measure of what’s coming,” said Nour Sharara, a public health expert at BioBot.

“As soon as people are infected, they start shedding the virus, before they start showing symptoms. Some people take five days to develop symptoms. But during those five days, we can already see it in the sewage, because it’s in their stool.”

To combat the new variants, the same technology would need to be ramped up and paired with a process known as “genomic surveillance,” which means analyzing samples to determine their strain. which means analyzing samples to determine their strain.. 

Ramping up a wastewater genomic surveillance program could give authorities advance warning that a new, dangerous variant has spread to a particular location, so they can take action early. 

Testing wastewater for coronavirus generally involves inserting a device into a manhole to pull out samples of sludge at regular intervals—for example, 50 milliliters every 15 minutes. But the best access points are hardly located in ideal spots. In some towns, researchers might have to prop up manholes in the middle of Main Street to get the kind of access they’d need. 

The cost of a national program could easily run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, even though advocates say it’s worth the money.

The U.S. should allocate roughly 10% of its overall coronavirus testing budget to a new national wastewater program, said Smith. 

“In my opinion, there’s an unbelievable upside to making this investment,” Smith said.  

Such a program would help America’s catch the ground and time lost thanks to its dismal failure to track the spread of coronavirus mutations so far. 

The U.S. genetically analyzes less than 1 percent of all cases; experts say we should be analyzing at least 5 percent just to have an idea of what’s out there. The UK, Denmark and Iceland are closer to 10 percent. 

In addition to variants first identified in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, scientists have recently identified seven more variants in the U.S. that researchers are naming after birds in order to make them easier to remember. 

The so-called Robin 1 has spread to some 30 states, especially in the midwest. Another called Pelican was first found in Oregon and has since spread to 12 states. Others are being called Quail, Bluebird, Yellowhammer and Robin 2. 

“The variants from South Africa, from the UK and from Brazil, you know, we’re watching,” said Auclair. “But the ones that scare me the most? It’s the ones I don’t know about.” 

Yet the real danger may be the variants that haven’t yet been identified—because we aren’t looking hard enough.

BEND OVER