In the Netherlands, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has been detected in the wastewater of a community for the first time. This discovery happened even before infections became known in the place.
Researchers hope that this new finding will lead to a kind of “early warning system”.
Corona virus in wastewater
According to the Bloomberg news agency, Dutch scientists have Corona viruses detected in Amersfoort wastewater – even before the first infections in the city southeast of Amsterdam have been reported. This suggests that the wastewater could serve as an early warning system for COVID-19.
But how does the virus get into the wastewater? An infected person excretes the virus with their stools. The rapid spread of the virus would also increase the volume in sewers. However, it is unlikely that wastewater will develop into an important transmission path of the disease, said microbiologist Gertjan Medema and his colleagues from the KWR water research institute in Nieuwegein.
Waste water monitoring possible as an early warning system?
“It is important to collect information about the occurrence and whereabouts of this new virus in the wastewater to understand whether there is no risk to wastewater workers, but also to determine whether wastewater monitoring is used to monitor the circulation of Sars-CoV 2 could be used in our communities, ”Medema also said in a published report. He added: “This could complement current clinical surveillance, which is limited to the Covid 19 patients with the most severe symptoms.” Researchers have long suspected that the number of unreported cases of coronavirus infection is far higher than can be confirmed by tests.
The report by the Dutch researchers was the first to detect Sars-CoV-2 in waste water, it was also said. DHowever, wastewater monitoring already works when monitoring other viruses such as the poliovirus. So the wastewater can serve as an early warning system for the emergence and reappearance of the corona virus in cities, the scientists explained.
Rapid tests developed
English and Chinese scientists have also taken advantage of this knowledge. You developed one Rapid test with which corona viruses can be detected in wastewater. As reported by scinexx, Zhugen Yang from Cranfield University in Great Britain and his colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences want to determine whether there are Covid patients in an area and thus enable further tests, quarantine and other countermeasures to be carried out quickly.
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