Enumerating asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and estimating SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding rates via wastewater-based epidemiology.

Autor: Schmitz BW; Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA), University of Arizona, 6425 W. 8th St., Yuma, AZ 85364, USA. Electronic address: bschmitz@arizona.edu., Innes GK; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Rutgers University, 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA., Prasek SM; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA., Betancourt WQ; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA., Stark ER; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA., Foster AR; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA., Abraham AG; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 1635 Aurora Ct, Aurora, CO 80045, USA., Gerba CP; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA., Pepper IL; Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center, University of Arizona, 2959 W. Calle Agua Nueva, Tucson, AZ 85745, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2021 Dec 20; Vol. 801, pp. 149794. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Aug 20.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149794
Abstrakt: Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was utilized to monitor SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewage collected from manholes specific to individual student dormitories (dorms) at the University of Arizona in the fall semester of 2020, which led to successful identification and reduction of SARS-CoV-2 transmission events. Positive wastewater samples triggered clinical testing of residents within that dorm; thus, SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals were identified regardless of symptom expression. This current study examined clinical testing data to determine the abundance of asymptomatic versus symptomatic cases in these defined communities. Nasal and nasopharyngeal swab samples processed via antigen and PCR tests indicated that 79.2% of SARS-CoV-2 infections were asymptomatic, and only 20.8% of positive cases reported COVID-19 symptoms at the time of testing. Clinical data was paired with corresponding wastewater virus concentrations, which enabled calculation of viral shedding rates in feces per infected person. Mean shedding rates averaged from positive wastewater samples across all dorms were 7.30 ± 0.67 log 10 genome copies per gram of feces (gc/g-feces) based on the N1 gene. Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding rates from infected individuals has been the critical missing component necessary for WBE models to measure and predict SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence in communities. The findings from this study can be utilized to create models that can be used to inform public health prevention and response actions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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