A study reveals the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater treatment plants, contributing to the monitoring of viral infection rates.
According to a Stanford University study published in Environmental Science and Technology, the analysis of wastewater provides a method to detect the presence of the coronavirus in waste samples, in addition to indicating whether infection rates are increasing or decreasing.
The research starts from the fact that wastewater is a strong source of coronavirus, since infected people dispose of the virus through their feces, so it can be used in the evaluation of efforts to contain the pandemic.
The analysis identifies the genetic material in the ribonucleic acid (RNA) form of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and confirms that trends in virus RNA concentrations in wastewater correspond to infections of coronavirus in the community.
In this way, COVID-19 detection methods that use the observation of sewage are gaining momentum around the world, as they could alert health authorities to potential outbreaks days before individual symptoms of the virus are recognized. Viral RNA can be isolated from waste in sewage treatment plants and identified through a recovery process.
The wastewater includes the viral excretion of symptomatic and asymptomatic people, so the quantification of the viral genome in the wastewater is linked to the magnitude of circulation of the virus in the community and allows knowing the viral strains that circulate in the area.
Also, the presence of the viral genome in wastewater can alert to the presence of an infectious source of population exposure. This reflects the importance of the study of wastewater as a source of information on the circulation of the virus in a community and as a potential source of contamination of surface water and food.