SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance in Ten Cities from Mexico

We aimed to estimate the lead time and infection prevalence from SARS-CoV-2 wastewater (WW) monitoring compared with clinical surveillance data in Mexico to generate evidence about the feasibility of a large-scale WW surveillance system. We selected 10 WW treatment plants (WWTP) and 5 COVID-19 hospi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2023-02, Vol.15 (4), p.799
Main Authors: Schilmann, Astrid, Sánchez-Pájaro, Andrés, Ovilla-Muñoz, Marbella T, Téllez-Sosa, Juan, Bravo-Romero, Sugey, Bahena-Reyes, Sara Yuvisela, Lobato, Margarita, Martínez-Barnetche, Jesús, Alpuche-Aranda, Celia Mercedes, Lamadrid-Figueroa, Héctor, Barrientos-Gutiérrez, Tonatiuh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymptomatic
Catchment areas
Chemical oxygen demand
Cities
Collaboration
Comparative analysis
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Effluents
Feasibility
Health aspects
Health surveillance
Hospitals
Infection
Infections
Lead time
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Metropolitan areas
Mexico
Monitoring
Pandemics
Polyethylene glycol
Polyols
RNA
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Sewer systems
Surveillance systems
Telemedicine
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment plants
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Summary:We aimed to estimate the lead time and infection prevalence from SARS-CoV-2 wastewater (WW) monitoring compared with clinical surveillance data in Mexico to generate evidence about the feasibility of a large-scale WW surveillance system. We selected 10 WW treatment plants (WWTP) and 5 COVID-19 hospitals in major urban conglomerates in Mexico and collected biweekly 24-h flow-adjusted composite samples during October–November 2020. We concentrated WW samples by polyethylene glycol precipitation and employed quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assays, targeting the nucleoprotein (N1 and N2) genes. We detected and quantified SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 88% and 58% of the raw WW samples from WWTPs and COVID-19 hospitals, respectively. The WW RNA daily loads lead the active cases by more than one month in large and medium WWTP sites. WW estimated that cases were 2 to 20-fold higher than registered active cases. Developing a continuous monitoring surveillance system for SARS-CoV-2 community transmission through WW is feasible, informative, and recognizes three main challenges: (1) WW system data (catchment area, population served), (2) capacity to maintain the cold-chain and process samples, and (3) supplies and personnel to ensure standardized procedures.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w15040799