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Yousif M, Rachida S, Taukobong S, Ndlovu N, Iwu-Jaja C, Howard W, Moonsamy S, Mhlambi N, Gwala S, Levy JI, Andersen KG, Scheepers C, von Gottberg A, Wolter N, Bhiman JN, Amoako DG, Ismail A, Suchard M, McCarthy K. SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in wastewater as a model for monitoring evolution of endemic viruses. Nat Commun 2023; 14:6325. [PMID: 37816740 PMCID: PMC10564906 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41369-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/12/2023] Open
Abstract
As global SARS-CoV-2 burden and testing frequency have decreased, wastewater surveillance has emerged as a key tool to support clinical surveillance efforts. The aims of this study were to identify and characterize SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater samples collected from urban centers across South Africa. Here we show that wastewater sequencing analyses are temporally concordant with clinical genomic surveillance and reveal the presence of multiple lineages not detected by clinical surveillance. We show that wastewater genomics can support SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological investigations by reliably recovering the prevalence of local circulating variants, even when clinical samples are not available. Further, we find that analysis of mutations observed in wastewater can provide a signal of upcoming lineage transitions. Our study demonstrates the utility of wastewater genomics to monitor evolution and spread of endemic viruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mukhlid Yousif
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Department of Virology, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | - Said Rachida
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Setshaba Taukobong
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nkosenhle Ndlovu
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Chinwe Iwu-Jaja
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Wayne Howard
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Shelina Moonsamy
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nompilo Mhlambi
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Sipho Gwala
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Joshua I Levy
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Kristian G Andersen
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA
| | - Cathrine Scheepers
- SAMRC Antibody Immunity Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Anne von Gottberg
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nicole Wolter
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Jinal N Bhiman
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Daniel Gyamfi Amoako
- Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Arshad Ismail
- Sequencing Core Facility, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa
| | - Melinda Suchard
- Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Kerrigan McCarthy
- Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Department of Virology, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
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