Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gudra, Dita
• Dejus, Sandis
• Bartkevics, Vadims
• Roga, Ance
• Kalnina, Ineta
• Strods, Martins
• Rayan, Anton
• Kokina, Kristina
• Zajakina, Anna
• Dumpis, Uga
• Ikkere, Laura Elina
• Arhipova, Irina
• Berzins, Gundars
• Erglis, Aldis
• Binde, Juris
• Ansonska, Evija
• Berzins, Aivars
• Juhna, Talis
• Fridmanis, Davids

Titel

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater and importance of population size assessment in smaller cities: An exploratory case study from two municipalities in Latvia

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2022-06, Vol.823, p.153775-153775, Article 153775

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has regained global importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mobility of people and other factors, such as precipitation and irregular inflow of industrial wastewater, are complicating the estimation of the disease prevalence through WBE, which is crucial for proper crisis management. These estimations are particularly challenging in urban areas with moderate or low numbers of inhabitants in situations where movement restrictions are not adopted (as in the case of Latvia) because residents of smaller municipalities tend to be more mobile and less strict in following the rules and measures of disease containment. Thus, population movement can influence the outcome of WBE measurements significantly and may not reflect the actual epidemiological situation in the respective area. Here, we demonstrate that by combining the data of detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA copy number, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) analyses in wastewater and mobile call detail records it was possible to provide an accurate assessment of the COVID-19 epidemiological situation in towns that are small (COVID-19 28-day cumulative incidence r = 0.609 and 35-day cumulative incidence r = 0.89, p < 0.05) and medium-sized towns (COVID-19 21-day cumulative incidence r = 0.997, 28-day cumulative incidence r = 0.98 and 35-day cumulative incidence r = 0.997, p < 0.05). This is the first study demonstrating WBE for monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks in Latvia. We demonstrate that the application of population size estimation measurements such as total 5-HIAA and call detail record data improve the accuracy of the WBE approach. [Display omitted] •Traces of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were detected in Latvian municipal WW.•Population size control measurements enabled interpretation on acquisition of the COVID-19 prevalence estimation.•Habits of citizen movement must be considered using WBE in small/medium-sized towns.