VARIANTS of coronavirus can be detected in wastewater long before they are spotted by tests in people.
Those infected with coronavirus shed it in their faeces. Hundreds of municipalities around the world already as part of their surveillance operations. Now research suggests they could also check which genetic variants are circulating to flag up potentially dangerous new versions.
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Kara Nelson at the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues recently . Another team, led by Niko Beerenwinkel at ETH Zurich, 鈥� first seen in the UK 鈥� in Swiss sewage sampled in mid-December, two weeks before the first confirmed case of the variant in Switzerland.
鈥淲e鈥檝e demonstrated it can work and are now trying to apply it at larger scales,鈥� says Nelson. Working with the California Department of Public 午夜福利1000集合, her team hopes to have a wastewater sequencing system running in four weeks.
鈥淲e are optimistic that it can be a really effective way to provide surveillance for large populations鈥�
The virus is diluted in wastewater but is detectable if more than 1 in 1000 people are shedding it, says Sharon Peacock at the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium. That is a relatively low infection rate: . The and is working on adding sequencing capabilities to it, says Peacock.
Wastewater monitoring has the added advantage of sampling everyone who uses the sewage system, not just those who turn up for a test or treatment. That includes asymptomatic carriers who may be spreading new mutants.
鈥淲e are very optimistic that it can be a really efficient and effective way to provide surveillance for large populations,鈥� says Nelson. It could be very useful in low-income countries that don鈥檛 have the capacity or funds for mass testing.
