Your search found 11 records
1 Baker, R. E.; Yang, W.; Vecchi, G. A.; Metcalf, J. E.; Grenfell, B. T. 2020. Susceptible supply limits the role of climate in the early SARS-CoV-2 [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2] pandemic. Science, 10p. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc2535]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Pandemics ; Infection ; Climatic factors ; Disease transmission ; Population ; Susceptibility ; Immunity ; Humidity ; Models
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049701)
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/05/15/science.abc2535.full.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049701.pdf
(2.53 MB) (2.53 MB)
Preliminary evidence suggests that climate may modulate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Yet it remains unclear whether seasonal and geographic variations in climate can substantially alter the pandemic trajectory, given high susceptibility is a core driver. Here, we use a climate-dependent epidemic model to simulate the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic probing different scenarios based on known coronavirus biology. We find that while variations in weather may be important for endemic infections, during the pandemic stage of an emerging pathogen the climate drives only modest changes to pandemic size. A preliminary analysis of non-pharmaceutical control measures indicates that they may moderate the pandemic-climate interaction via susceptible depletion. Our findings suggest, without effective control measures, strong outbreaks are likely in more humid climates and summer weather will not substantially limit pandemic growth.

2 La Rosa, G.; Iaconelli, M.; Mancini, P.; Ferraro, G. B.; Veneri, C.; Bonadonna, L.; Lucentini, L.; Suffredini, E. 2020. First detection of SARS-CoV-2 [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2] in untreated wastewaters in Italy. Science of the Total Environment, 736:139652. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139652]
Coronavirus disease ; Wastewater treatment plants ; Sewage ; Monitoring ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Public health ; Epidemiology ; Surveillance / Italy / Milan / Rome
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049817)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049817.pdf
(0.67 MB)
Several studies have demonstrated the advantages of environmental surveillance through the monitoring of sewage for the assessment of viruses circulating in a given community (wastewater-based epidemiology, WBE). During the COVID-19 public health emergency, many reports have described the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stools from COVID-19 patients, and a few studies reported the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewaters worldwide. Italy is among the world's worst-affected countries in the COVID-19 pandemic, but so far there are no studies assessing the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in Italian wastewaters. To this aim, twelve influent sewage samples, collected between February and April 2020 from Wastewater Treatment Plants in Milan and Rome, were tested adapting, for concentration, the standard WHO procedure for Poliovirus surveillance. Molecular analysis was undertaken with three nested protocols, including a newly designed SARS-CoV-2 specific primer set. SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection was accomplished in volumes of 250 ml of wastewaters collected in areas of high (Milan) and low (Rome) epidemic circulation, according to clinical data. Overall, 6 out of 12 samples were positive. One of the positive results was obtained in a Milan wastewater sample collected a few days after the first notified Italian case of autochthonous SARS-CoV-2.
The study confirms that WBE has the potential to be applied to SARS-CoV-2 as a sensitive tool to study spatial and temporal trends of virus circulation in the population.

3 Zambrano-Monserrate, M. A.; Ruano, M. A.; Sanchez-Alcalde, L. 2020. Indirect effects of COVID-19 on the environment. Science of the Total Environment, 728:138813. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138813]
COVID-19 ; Environmental impact ; Pandemics ; Greenhouse gas emissions ; Air quality ; Beaches ; Nitrogen dioxide ; Waste management ; Physical distancing ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049899)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049899.pdf
(1.29 MB)
This research aims to show the positive and negative indirect effects of COVID-19 on the environment, particularly in the most affected countries such as China, USA, Italy, and Spain. Our research shows that there is a significant association between contingency measures and improvement in air quality, clean beaches and environmental noise reduction. On the other hand, there are also negative secondary aspects such as the reduction in recycling and the increase in waste, further endangering the contamination of physical spaces (water and land), in addition to air. Global economic activity is expected to return in the coming months in most countries (even if slowly), so decreasing GHG concentrations during a short period is not a sustainable way to clean up our environment.

4 Daughton, C. G. 2020. Wastewater surveillance for population-wide Covid-19: the present and future. Science of the Total Environment, 736:139631. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139631]
Wastewater ; Health hazards ; Coronavirus disease ; Pandemics ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Epidemiology ; Surveillance ; Public health ; Sewage ; Communities ; Monitoring
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049912)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049912.pdf
(0.48 MB)
The Covid-19 pandemic (Coronavirus disease 2019) continues to expose countless unanticipated problems at all levels of the world's complex, interconnected society — global domino effects involving public health and safety, accessible health care, food security, stability of economies and financial institutions, and even the viability of democracies. These problems pose immense challenges that can voraciously consume human and capital resources. Tracking the initiation, spread, and changing trends of Covid-19 at population-wide scales is one of the most daunting challenges, especially the urgent need to map the distribution and magnitude of Covid-19 in near real-time. Other than pre-exposure prophylaxis or therapeutic treatments, the most important tool is the ability to quickly identify infected individuals. The mainstay approach for epidemics has long involved the large-scale application of diagnostic testing at the individual case level. However, this approach faces overwhelming challenges in providing fast surveys of large populations.
An epidemiological tool developed and refined by environmental scientists over the last 20 years (Wastewater-Based Epidemiology — WBE) holds the potential as a key tool in containing and mitigating Covid-19 outbreaks while also minimizing domino effects such as unnecessarily long stay-at-home policies that stress humans and economies alike. WBE measures chemical signatures in sewage, such as fragment biomarkers from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), simply by applying the type of clinical diagnostic testing (designed for individuals) to the collective signature of entire communities. As such, it could rapidly establish the presence of Covid-19 infections across an entire community. Surprisingly, this tool has not been widely embraced by epidemiologists or public health officials. Presented is an overview of why and how governments should exercise prudence and begin evaluating WBE and coordinating development of a standardized WBE methodology — one that could be deployed within nationalized monitoring networks to provide intercomparable data across nations.

5 Foladori, P.; Cutrupi, F.; Segata, N.; Manara, S.; Pinto, F.; Malpei, F.; Bruni, L.; La Rosa, G. 2020. SARS-CoV-2 from faeces to wastewater treatment: what do we know?: a review. Science of the Total Environment, 743:140444. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140444]
COVID-19 ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Wastewater treatment ; Treatment plants ; Faeces ; Sewage ; Disease transmission ; Gastrointestinal tract ; Pandemics ; Monitoring
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049955)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720339668/pdfft?md5=cf32f7ecde41e4fb13f3164badf40c61&pid=1-s2.0-S0048969720339668-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049955.pdf
(0.90 MB) (924 KB)
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been found in the faeces of infected patients in numerous studies. Stool may remain positive for SARS-CoV-2, even when the respiratory tract becomes negative, and the interaction with the gastrointestinal tract poses a series of questions about wastewater and its treatments. This review aims to understand the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in faeces and sewage and its fate in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).
The viral load in the faeces of persons testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 was estimated at between 5·103 to 107.6 copies/mL, depending on the infection course. In the sewerage, faeces undergo dilution and viral load decreases considerably in the wastewater entering a WWTP with a range from 2 copies/100 mL to 3·103 copies/mL, depending on the level of the epidemic. Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage, although no evidence of COVID-19 transmission has been found via this route, could be advantageously exploited as an early warning of outbreaks. Preliminary studies on WBE seem promising; but high uncertainty of viral loads in wastewater and faeces remains, and further research is needed.
The detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage, based on RNA sequences and RT-PCR, requires a shared approach on sample pre-treatment and on-site collection to ensure comparable results. The finding of viral RNA in stools does not imply that the virus is viable and infectious. Viability of CoVs such as SARS-CoV-2 decreases in wastewater - due to temperature, pH, solids, micropollutants - but high inactivation in WWTPs can be obtained only by using disinfection (free chlorine, UVC light). A reduction in the quantity of disinfectants can be obtained by implementing Membrane-Bioreactors with ultrafiltration to separate SARS-CoV-2 virions with a size of 60–140 nm. In sludge treatment, thermophilic digestion is effective, based on the general consensus that CoVs are highly sensitive to increased temperatures.

6 Kitamura, K.; Sadamasu, K.; Muramatsu, M.; Yoshida, H. 2021. Efficient detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the solid fraction of wastewater. Science of the Total Environment, 763:144587. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144587]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; COVID-19 ; Wastewater treatment plants ; Sewage ; Ultrafiltration ; Urban areas / Japan
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050182)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720381183/pdfft?md5=99be3dea4b35b78441d1ccf506175c4f&pid=1-s2.0-S0048969720381183-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050182.pdf
(0.72 MB) (740 KB)
In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, environmental surveillance for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 has become increasingly important. Studies have demonstrated that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA is present in the feces of infected individuals; further, its presence in wastewater has been reported. However, an optimized method for its detection in sewage has not yet been adequately investigated. Therefore, in this study, the efficient detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the solid fraction of wastewater was investigated using two quantitative PCR assays. In particular, wastewater samples were collected from a manhole located in the commercial district of a metropolitan region in Japan, where COVID-19 is highly prevalent, and two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The samples were concentrated using four separate methods, namely, electronegative membrane adsorption, polyethylene glycol precipitation, ultrafiltration, and solid precipitation. Each method revealed a significant concentration of pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) RNA, which is an indicator virus for wastewater. As expected, non-enveloped PMMoV RNA was enriched in the supernatant fraction such that relatively low concentrations were detected in the solid fraction of the wastewater samples. In contrast, higher SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were consistently detected in the solid fractions compared with the supernatant fractions based on the other methods that were investigated in this study. Spearman's correlation tests showed that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater samples from the WWTP were significantly correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases recorded during the data collection period. These results demonstrate that viral recovery from the solid fraction is an effective method for SARS-CoV-2 RNA surveillance in an aqueous environment.

7 Takeda, T.; Kitajima, M.; Huong, N. T. T.; Setiyawan, A. S.; Setiadi, T.; Hung, D. T.; Haramoto, E. 2021. Institutionalising wastewater surveillance systems to minimise the impact of COVID-19: cases of Indonesia, Japan and Viet Nam. Water Science and Technology, 83(2):251-256. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2020.558]
Wastewater management ; Surveillance systems ; COVID-19 ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Institutions ; Monitoring ; Stakeholders / Indonesia / Japan / Vietnam
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050199)
https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/83/2/251/838296/wst083020251.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050199.pdf
(0.33 MB) (336 KB)
This mini review describes the current status and challenges regarding institutionalisation of wastewater surveillance systems against COVID-19. Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has been proposed to be a potential tool to understand the actual prevalence of COVID-19 in the community, and it could be an effective approach to monitor the trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, challenges to institutionalise wastewater surveillance systems are still abundant and unfolding at a rapid rate given that the international understanding regarding the scientific knowledge and socio-political impacts of COVID-19 are in the developing stages. To better understand the existing challenges and bottlenecks, a comparative study between Japan, Viet Nam, and Indonesia was carried out in the present study. Through gaining a better understanding of common issues as well as issues specific to each country, we hope to contribute to building a robust multistakeholder system to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater as an effective disease surveillance system for COVID-19.

8 Donde, O. O.; Atoni, E.; Muia, A. W.; Yillia, P. T. 2021. COVID-19 pandemic: water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as a critical control measure remains a major challenge in low-income countries. Water Research, 191:116793. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116793]
COVID-19 ; Pandemics ; Water ; Sanitation ; Hygiene ; Public health ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Disease transmission ; Disease control ; Morbidity ; Mortality
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050207)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050207.pdf
(0.61 MB)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the deadly respiratory disease called coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19), an ongoing global public health emergency that has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. We review literature on the transmission and control of SARS-CoV-2 and discuss the challenges of focusing on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as critical control measures in low-income countries. A significantly higher prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 related deaths has been reported for the United States of America and other high-income countries in Europe and Asia, regardless of advanced medical facilities in those countries. In contrast, much lower COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality rates have been documented in many low-income countries, despite having comparatively higher socioeconomic burdens and suboptimal medical facilities. By September 29, 2020 over one million deaths have been reported. On the same day, the cumulative total of COVID-19 related morbidity for Africa was 35,954 with 3.5% of the global COVID-19 related deaths. We present arguments for the relatively low COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates in many low-income countries and discuss the critical importance of WASH for preventing the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. We observe that the key recommendations put forward by the World Health Organization to effectively control the pandemic have been difficult to implement in low-income countries. We conclude that the pandemic reinforces previous pronouncements that adequate and effective WASH measures are crucial for public health and recommend closer coordination between public health and WASH sectors.

9 de Araujo, J. C.; Gavazza, S.; Leao, T. L.; Florencio, L.; da Silva, H. P.; Albuquerque, J. de. O.; Borges, M. A. de L.; Alves, R. B. de O.; Rodrigues, R. H. A.; dos Santos, E. B. 2021. SARS-CoV-2 sewage surveillance in low-income countries: potential and challenges. Journal of Water and Health, 19(1):1-19. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2020.168]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Sewage ; Surveillance ; COVID-19 ; Disease transmission ; Wastewater treatment plants ; Microbiology ; Monitoring ; Sanitation ; Urban areas ; Communities ; Precipitation / Brazil / Recife
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050231)
https://iwaponline.com/jwh/article-pdf/19/1/1/845169/jwh0190001.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050231.pdf
(0.65 MB) (664 KB)
This paper reviews the recent findings in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage samples. We discuss how wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) can be used as a complementary tool to help the fight against COVID-19 spread, particularly in low-income countries with low sewage coverage and where the testing coverage is deficient, such as Brazil. One of the major challenges on WBS is the use of different protocols to estimate the number of infected people in a community from the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Therefore, we assembled and reviewed all the relevant data available to date about this topic. Virus concentration and detection methods were reviewed as well, and some of them can be performed in most of the microbiology and environmental engineering laboratories in low-income countries, as discussed. Moreover, the monitoring and sampling plan should represent the local reality. Thus, we suggest unique strategies for sewage sampling and monitoring in different sewerage network points and the slums, despite the possible logistics difficulties involved. Considering the low levels of sanitation in most urban agglomerates in Brazil, WBS can potentially assume a crucial role as a cost-effective strategy to monitor the circulation of the virus and assess the real prevalence of COVID-19.

10 Lundy, L.; Fatta-Kassinos, D.; Slobodnik, J.; Karaolia, P.; Cirka, L.; Kreuzinger, N.; Castiglioni, S.; Bijlsma, L.; Dulio, V.; Deviller, G.; Lai, F. Y.; Alygizakis, N.; Barneo, M.; Baz-Lomba, J. A.; Been, F.; Cichova, M.; Conde-Perez, K.; Covaci, A.; Donner, E.; Ficek, A.; Hassard, F.; Hedstrom, A.; Hernandez, F.; Janska, V.; Jellison, K.; Hofman, J.; Hill, K.; Hong, P.-Y.; Kasprzyk-Hordern, B.; Kolarevic, S.; Krahulec, J.; Lambropoulou, D.; de Llanos, R.; Mackulak, T.; Martinez-Garcia, L.; Martinez, F.; Medema, G.; Micsinai, A.; Myrmel, M.; Nasser, M.; Niederstatter, H.; Nozal, L.; Oberacher, H.; Ocenaskova, V.; Ogorzaly, L.; Papadopoulos, D.; Peinado, B.; Pitkanen, T.; Poza, M.; Rumbo-Feal, S.; Sanchez, M. B.; Szekely, A. J.; Soltysova, A.; Thomaidis, N. S.; Vallejo, J.; van Nuijs, A.; Ware, V.; Viklander, M. 2021. Making waves: collaboration in the time of SARS-CoV-2 - rapid development of an international co-operation and wastewater surveillance database to support public health decision-making. Water Research, 199:117167. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117167]
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; International cooperation ; Collaboration ; Wastewater treatment plants ; Surveillance systems ; Public health ; COVID-19 ; Databases ; Decision making ; Monitoring ; Sewage
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050412)
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050412.pdf
(1.32 MB)
The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was first reported in March 2020. Over the subsequent months, the potential for wastewater surveillance to contribute to COVID-19 mitigation programmes has been the focus of intense national and international research activities, gaining the attention of policy makers and the public. As a new application of an established methodology, focused collaboration between public health practitioners and wastewater researchers is essential to developing a common understanding on how, when and where the outputs of this non-invasive community-level approach can deliver actionable outcomes for public health authorities. Within this context, the NORMAN SCORE “SARS-CoV-2 in sewage” database provides a platform for rapid, open access data sharing, validated by the uploading of 276 data sets from nine countries to-date. Through offering direct access to underpinning meta-data sets (and describing its use in data interpretation), the NORMAN SCORE database is a resource for the development of recommendations on minimum data requirements for wastewater pathogen surveillance. It is also a tool to engage public health practitioners in discussions on use of the approach, providing an opportunity to build mutual understanding of the demand and supply for data and facilitate the translation of this promising research application into public health practice.

11 Hill, K.; Zamyadi, A.; Deere, D.; Vanrolleghem, P. A.; Crosbie, N. D. 2021. SARS-CoV-2 known and unknowns, implications for the water sector and wastewater-based epidemiology to support national responses worldwide: early review of global experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. Water Quality Research Journal, 56(2):57-67. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2020.100]
COVID-19 ; Pandemics ; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ; Wastewater treatment ; Epidemiology ; Monitoring ; Pathogens ; Public health ; Models / Australia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050461)
https://iwaponline.com/wqrj/article-pdf/56/2/57/893157/wqrjc0560057.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050461.pdf
(0.39 MB) (396 KB)
Wastewater surveillance of pathogens may be a useful tool to help determine whether clinical surveillance of disease is effective or inadequate due to under-reporting and under-detection. In addition, tracking of pathogen concentrations over time could potentially provide a measure of the effectiveness of public health control measures and the impact of the gradual relaxation of these controls. Analysis of wastewater using quantitative molecular methods offers a real-time measure of infections in the community, and thus is expected to provide a more sensitive and rapid indication of changes in infection rates before such effects become detectable by clinical health surveillance. Models may help to back-calculate wastewater prevalence to population prevalence or to correct pathogen counts for wastewater catchment-specific and temporal effects. They may also help to design the wastewater sampling strategy. This article provides a brief summary of the history of pathogen wastewater surveillance to help set the context for the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) programmes currently being undertaken globally.

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