Publication details

SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance in the Czech Republic: Spatial and temporal differences in SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations and relationship to clinical data and wastewater parameters

Authors

SOVOVÁ Kateřina VAŠÍČKOVÁ Petra VALÁŠEK Vojtěch VÝRAVSKÝ David OČENÁŠKOVÁ Věra JURANOVÁ Eva BUŠOVÁ Milena TUČEK Milan BENCKO Vladimír ZVĚŘINOVÁ MLEJNKOVÁ Hana

Year of publication 2024
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Water Research X
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
web https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589914724000100
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2024.100220
Keywords Wastewater-based epidemiology; COVID-19; Virus; PCR; Wastewater treatment plant
Description This study presents the results of systematic wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA and basic wastewater parameters from four different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the Czech Republic over the 2020 -2022 epidemic. Two-step reverse -transcription quantitative PCR targeting genes encoding the N and Nsp12 proteins was employed to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA loading in 420 wastewater samples. The results obtained were used to evaluate the potential of wastewater analysis for describing the epidemiological situation in cities of different sizes and determining temporal differences based on the prevailing SARS-CoV-2 variant. Strong correlations between the number of active and hospitalised COVID-19 cases in each WWTP catchment area and the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected in the wastewater clearly demonstrated the suitability of this wastewater -based epidemiological approach for WWTPs of different sizes and characteristics, despite differences in SARS-CoV-2 variant waves, with some WWTPs showing high predictive potential. This study demonstrated on the data from the Czech Republic that targeted systematic monitoring of wastewater provides sufficiently robust data for surveillance of viral loads in sample populations, and thus contributes to preventing the spread of infection and subsequent introduction of appropriate measures.

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