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Monteiro S, Rente D, Cunha MV, Marques TA, Cardoso E, Vilaça J, Coelho N, Brôco N, Carvalho M, Santos R. Discrimination and surveillance of infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 in wastewater using cell culture and RT-qPCR. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 815:152914. [PMID: 34999067 PMCID: PMC8733236 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.152914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA has been extensively detected in raw wastewater in studies exploring wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for early warning purposes. Nonetheless, only a few limited studies investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in treated wastewaters to determine the potential health risks across the water cycle. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 has been done mostly by RT-qPCR and ddPCR, which only provides information on the presence of nucleic acids rather than information on potential infectivity. In this study, we set to develop and evaluate the use of viability RT-qPCR for the selective discrimination and surveillance of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in secondary-treated wastewater. Enzymatic (nuclease) and viability dye (Reagent D) pretreatments were applied to infer infectivity through RT-qPCR using porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) as a CoV surrogate. Infectivity tests were first performed on PEDV purified RNA, then on infectious and heat-inactivated PEDV, and finally on heat inactivated PEDV spiked in concentrated secondary-treated wastewater. The two viability RT-qPCR methods were then applied to 27 secondary-treated wastewater samples positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the outlet of five large urban wastewater treatment plants in Portugal. Reagent D pretreatment showed similar behavior to cell culture for heat-inactivated PEDV and both viability RT-qPCR methods performed comparably to VERO E6 cell culture for SARS-CoV-2 present in secondary-treated wastewater, eliminating completely the RT-qPCR signal. Our study demonstrated the lack of infectious SARS-CoV-2 viral particles on secondary-treated wastewater through the application of two pretreatment methods for the rapid inference of infectivity through RT-qPCR, showing their potential application in environmental screening. This study addressed a knowledge gap on the public health risks of SARS-CoV-2 across the water cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Monteiro
- Laboratorio de Análises, Tecnico Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Daniela Rente
- Laboratorio de Análises, Tecnico Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Mónica V Cunha
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal; Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute (BioISI), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Tiago A Marques
- Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, The Observatory, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9LZ, Scotland; Centro de Estatística e Aplicações, Departamento de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Eugénia Cardoso
- Águas do Tejo Atlântico, Fábrica de Águas de Alcântara, Avenida de Ceuta, 1300-254 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - João Vilaça
- SIMDOURO, ETAR de Gaia Litoral, 4400-356 Canidelo, Portugal
| | | | - Nuno Brôco
- AdP VALOR, Serviços Ambientais, S.A., Rua Visconde de Seabra, 3, 1700-421 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Marta Carvalho
- AdP VALOR, Serviços Ambientais, S.A., Rua Visconde de Seabra, 3, 1700-421 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ricardo Santos
- Laboratorio de Análises, Tecnico Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
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