Assessment of Concentration, Recovery, and Normalization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Two Wastewater Treatment Plants in Texas and Correlation with COVID-19 Cases in the Community | Zendy

Kiran Kumar Vadde | Zendy; Haya Al-Duroobi | Zendy; Duc Phan | Zendy; Arash Jafarzadeh | Zendy; Sina V. Moghadam | Zendy; Akanksha Matta | Zendy; Vikram Kapoor | Zendy

Open Access

Assessment of Concentration, Recovery, and Normalization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from Two Wastewater Treatment Plants in Texas and Correlation with COVID-19 Cases in the Community

Author(s) -

Kiran Kumar Vadde,

Haya Al-Duroobi,

Duc Phan,

Arash Jafarzadeh,

Sina V. Moghadam,

Akanksha Matta,

Vikram Kapoor

Publication year - 2022

Publication title -

acs esandt water

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

ISSN - 2690-0637

DOI - 10.1021/acsestwater.2c00054

Subject(s) - wastewater , covid-19 , coronavirus , virus , sewage treatment , normalization (sociology) , feces , biology , chromatography , virology , veterinary medicine , chemistry , environmental science , medicine , environmental engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , outbreak , disease , sociology , anthropology , infectious disease (medical specialty)

The purpose of this study was to conduct a correlative assessment of SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater with COVID-19 cases and a systematic evaluation of the effect of using different virus concentration methods and recovery and normalization approaches. We measured SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations at two different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Bexar County of Texas from October 2020 to May 2021 (32 weeks) using reverse transcription droplet digital PCR (RT-ddPCR). We evaluated three different adsorption-extraction (AE) based virus concentration methods (acidification, addition of MgCl 2 , or without any pretreatment) using bovine coronavirus (BCoV) as surrogate virus and observed that the direct AE method showed the highest mean recovery. COVID-19 cases were correlated significantly with SARS-CoV-2 N1 concentrations in Salitrillo (ρ = 0.75, p < 0.001) and Martinez II (ρ = 0.68, p < 0.001) WWTPs, but normalizing to a spiked recovery control (BCoV) or a fecal marker (HF183) reduced correlations for both treatment plants. The results generated in this 32-week monitoring study will enable researchers to prioritize the virus recovery method and subsequent correlation studies for wastewater surveillance.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research