Passive swab versus grab sampling for detection of SARS-CoV-2 markers in wastewater.

Sci Total Environ

Department of Physiology, Wayne State, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. Electronic address:

Published: September 2023

AI Article Synopsis

  • * This study introduces tampons as passive sampling devices for better detection of SARS-CoV-2 markers in wastewater, revealing that swabs were significantly more effective than traditional grab samples.
  • * Swab-based sampling showed a two to three-fold increase in viral marker detection, particularly benefitting smaller sewersheds with high variability, promising earlier outbreak detection.

Article Abstract

Early detection of the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, is key to mitigating the spread of new outbreaks. Data from individual testing is increasingly difficult to obtain as people conduct non-reported home tests, defer tests due to logistics or attitudes, or ignore testing altogether. Wastewater based epidemiology is an alternative method for surveilling a community while maintaining individual anonymity; however, a problem is that SARS-CoV-2 markers in wastewater vary throughout the day. Collecting grab samples at a single time may miss marker presence, while autosampling throughout a day is technically challenging and expensive. This study investigates a passive sampling method that would be expected to accumulate greater amounts of viral material from sewers over a period of time. Tampons were tested as passive swab sampling devices from which viral markers could be eluted with a Tween-20 surfactant wash. Six sewersheds in Detroit were sampled 16-22 times by paired swab (4 h immersion before retrieval) and grab methods over a five-month period and enumerated for N1 and N2 SARS-CoV-2 markers using ddPCR. Swabs detected SARS-CoV-2 markers significantly more frequently (P < 0.001) than grab samples, averaging two to three-fold more copies of SARS-CoV-2 markers than their paired grab samples (p < 0.0001) in the assayed volume (10 mL) of wastewater or swab eluate. No significant difference was observed in the recovery of a spiked-in control (Phi6), indicating that the improved sensitivity is not due to improvements in nucleic acid recovery or reduction of PCR inhibition. The outcomes of swab-based sampling varied significantly between sites, with swab samples providing the greatest improvements in counts for smaller sewersheds that otherwise tend to have greater variation in grab sample counts. Swab-sampling with tampons provides significant advantages in detection of SARS-CoV-2 wastewater markers and are expected to provide earlier detection of new outbreaks than grab samples, with consequent public health benefits.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10185491PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164180DOI Listing

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