Monitoring spread of coronavirus through waste water • Water News Europe

In the Netherlands genetic material of the coronavirus has been found in three Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP’s). Research institutes KWR and RIVM are investigating the presence of the virus in sewage to monitor the spread of the virus in a specific area. The coronavirus can be found in faeces of infected persons, so it can also be found in sewage water. The research is conducted in order to develop an instrument to make estimations on the number of infections without testing.

For years the Dutch research institute KWR has been carrying out research into substances in urban sewage water, such as drugs. In the past weeks their microbiologists conducted investigations at various sewage treatment plants in the Netherlands. They took samples of sewage and extracted the virus using methods that have been developed for other viruses, such as the norovirus. On their website KWR explains more about their  research method.

Research
Three weeks before the first official coronavirus infection in the Netherlands appeared KWR started the research. This first measurement was needed to test the method and see if we did not see signals while the virus was not present. These tests showed no reaction, so there was no presence of the virus in sewage water. Samples taken in March after the coronavirus outbreak found gene fragments. also showed a reaction in some of the samples. KWR states this is a preliminary result because the method is not yet quantitative. The results are based on the strength of the signal, the concentration of virus in sewage seems low.

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1 Comment

1. I do not wish to underestimate the risks - of course we need to take biohazard precautions when working around wastewater. However, as far as I'm aware there is no evidence of SARS-CoV2 in faeces. Indeed the article in Nature specifically tested for infectious virions in the faeces of infected patients and found none, but plenty of viral RNA (ref. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2196-x).

   To make the further jump in logic, that coronavirus can also be found in sewage water, is flawed. The Dutch study, and others, have only found viral RNA.

   The study by KWR and RIVM is great at highlighting a potential method to track infection by sampling sewers, but it is widely being misinterpreted as evidence of a faecal-oral transmission route. I wish the study's authors had made this clearer in their paper.