Community-Based SARS-CoV-2 Testing Using Saliva or Nasopharyngeal Swabs to Compare the Performance of Weekly COVID-19 Screening to Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 Signals.

Multiple studies worldwide have confirmed that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA can be detected in wastewater. However, there is a lack of data directly comparing the wastewater SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration with the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in individuals living in sewershed areas. Here, we correlate wastewater SARS-CoV-2 signals with SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals and compare positivity rates in two underserved communities in Portland, Oregon to those reported in greater Multnomah County.

Impact of Sampling Type, Frequency, and Scale of the Collection System on SARS-CoV-2 Quantification Fidelity.

With the rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology sampling methodologies for SARS-CoV-2 were often implemented quickly and may not have considered the unique drainage catchment characteristics. This study assessed the impact of grab versus composite sampling on the detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in four different catchment scales with flow rates ranging from high flow (wastewater treatment plant influent) to medium flow (neighborhood scale) to low-flow (city block scale) to ultralow flow (building scale). At the high-flow site, grab samples were comparable to 24 h composite samples with SARS-CoV-2 detected in all samples and differed in concentration from the composite by <1 log 10 unit.

Occurrence of trenbolone acetate metabolites in simulated confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) runoff.

Metabolites of androgenic synthetic growth promoters used at confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) pose a demonstrated ecological risk. To evaluate the transport of trenbolone acetate (TBA) metabolites from beef cattle CAFOs, rainfall simulation experiments were conducted at the University of California, Davis, research CAFO. Steroid concentrations in solid and aqueous samples from the research CAFO and solids samples from a commercial CAFO were analyzed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Fate of endogenous steroid hormones in steer feedlots under simulated rainfall-induced runoff.

Steroid hormones pose potential risks to fish and other aquatic organisms at extremely low concentrations. To assess the factors affecting the release of endogenous estrogenic and androgenic steroids from feedlots during rainfall, runoff, and soil samples were collected after simulated rainfall on a 14-steer feedlot under different rainfall rates and aging periods and analyzed for six steroid hormones. While only 17α-estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone were detected in fresh manure, 17β-estradiol, estrone, and androstenedione were present in the surficial soil after two weeks.