Journal Article

Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater tracks community infection dynamics

Peccia, Jordan, Ko, Albert I., Arnold, Wyatt, Brackney, Doug E., Grubaugh, Nathan D., Omer, Saad B., Wang, Dennis, Zulli, Alessandro, Casanovas-Massana, Arnau, Wang, Mike, Kaplan, Edward H., Malik, Amyn A., Weinberger, Daniel M., Warren, Joshua L.

2020

Overview

We measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA concentrations in primary sewage sludge in the New Haven, Connecticut, USA, metropolitan area during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Spring 2020. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected throughout the more than 10-week study and, when adjusted for time lags, tracked the rise and fall of cases seen in SARS-CoV-2 clinical test results and local COVID-19 hospital admissions. Relative to these indicators, SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in sludge were 0–2 d ahead of SARS-CoV-2 positive test results by date of specimen collection, 0–2 d ahead of the percentage of positive tests by date of specimen collection, 1–4 d ahead of local hospital admissions and 6–8 d ahead of SARS-CoV-2 positive test results by reporting date. Our data show the utility of viral RNA monitoring in municipal wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 infection surveillance at a population-wide level. In communities facing a delay between specimen collection and the reporting of test results, immediate wastewater results can provide considerable advance notice of infection dynamics. Testing sewage for the novel coronavirus reveals epidemiological trends.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group US,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 631/61 / 639/166 / 692/699 / Agriculture / Betacoronavirus - genetics / Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification / Bioinformatics / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology / Biomedicine / Biotechnology / Connecticut - epidemiology / Contamination / Coronaviridae / Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Environmental aspects / Epidemiology / Genetic aspects / Health aspects / Humans / Infections / Letter / Life Sciences / Measurement / Metropolitan areas / Municipal wastewater / Pandemics / Patient admissions / Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology / Prevalence / Respiratory diseases / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / RNA, Viral - analysis / RNA, Viral - genetics / SARS-CoV-2 / Severe acute respiratory syndrome / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Sewage - virology / Sewage sludge / Sludge / Time Factors / Viral diseases / Wastewater / Wastewater - virology / Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Monitoring