Use of wastewater analysis to evaluate the incidence of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in the UK population
Lead Research Organisation:
Bangor University
Department Name: Sch of Natural Sciences
Abstract
The emergence of the novel coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is now viewed as a major global threat to human health. Recent estimates predict the deaths of 15 million people worldwide and that SARS-CoV-2 infections are likely to result in an economic loss £2.1 trillion GDP. Effective monitoring of this pathogen is vital to estimate the amount of infection circulating in the human population, and to inform the design of measures for controlling the spread of disease. The number of hospitalization cases from SARS-CoV-2 related diseases (COVID-19) provides some measure of disease prevalence in the population, it provides no reliable information on mild infections and asymptomatic carriers. The use of random 'spot checks' and thermal imaging cameras have been introduced to screen for infections, though these are costly to implement and very imprecise. Consequently, better methods are needed to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in the wider population. As SARS-CoV-2 is shed in faeces in high amounts (Xiao et al., 2020, Zhang et al., 2020), we hypothesize that wastewater can provide a powerful indicator of disease incidence at any point in time (Ye et al., 2016), particularly as most UK urban centres are served by only 1 or 2 wastewater treatment works, thereby providing a single integrated signal of millions of people in a single sample. The aim of this NERC Urgency project is therefore to:
(1) use wastewater to provide near real-time information on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the UK population;
(2) monitor the rise and subsequent decline of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK population, and to compare this to conventional disease reporting metrics (e.g. confirmed SARS-CoV-2 hospitalization cases);
(3) identify similarities in the abundance of SARS-CoV-2 in the major urban centres of the UK;
(4) demonstrate the use of wastewater for the integrated surveillance of human pathogenic viruses within the human population;
(5) provide stakeholders (e.g. national government, NHS, HPA, PHE, PHW, HPS, water companies etc) with critical scientific information and tools to be able to respond and adapt to current and potential future disease epidemics.
(1) use wastewater to provide near real-time information on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within the UK population;
(2) monitor the rise and subsequent decline of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK population, and to compare this to conventional disease reporting metrics (e.g. confirmed SARS-CoV-2 hospitalization cases);
(3) identify similarities in the abundance of SARS-CoV-2 in the major urban centres of the UK;
(4) demonstrate the use of wastewater for the integrated surveillance of human pathogenic viruses within the human population;
(5) provide stakeholders (e.g. national government, NHS, HPA, PHE, PHW, HPS, water companies etc) with critical scientific information and tools to be able to respond and adapt to current and potential future disease epidemics.
Publications
Kevill JL
(2022)
A comparison of precipitation and filtration-based SARS-CoV-2 recovery methods and the influence of temperature, turbidity, and surfactant load in urban wastewater.
in The Science of the total environment
Wilde H
(2022)
Accounting for Dilution of SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater Samples Using Physico-Chemical Markers
in Water
Kevill JL
(2022)
Assessment of two types of passive sampler for the efficient recovery of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses from wastewater.
in The Science of the total environment
Brunner FS
(2022)
City-wide wastewater genomic surveillance through the successive emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants.
in Water research
Farkas K
(2022)
Comparative Assessment of Filtration- and Precipitation-Based Methods for the Concentration of SARS-CoV-2 and Other Viruses from Wastewater.
in Microbiology spectrum
Jobling K
(2024)
Comparison of gene targets and sampling regimes for SARS-CoV-2 quantification for wastewater epidemiology in UK prisons.
in Journal of water and health
Farkas K
(2021)
Concentration and Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater Using Polyethylene Glycol-Based Concentration and qRT-PCR.
in Methods and protocols
Alex-Sanders N
(2023)
Development and validation of a duplex RT-qPCR assay for norovirus quantification in wastewater samples.
in Journal of virological methods
Description | that wastewater can be used for tracking pathogenic organisms circulating in the wider community. ow used for national surveillance across the UK. |
Exploitation Route | used to set up the national wastewater surveillance programme. Please see COVID-19 impact submission from this project |
Sectors | Environment Healthcare |
Description | Used for tracing SARS-CoV-2 in the population and setting up the national wastewater surveillance programme. Please see UKRI COVID-19 impact submission from this project |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Healthcare |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | GCRF_NF252 Co-surveillance of Wasterwater and Environmental Water Samples for SARS-CoV-2 and Pathogenic Viruses in South Africa and Nigeria: Incidence |
Amount | £324,336 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V044613/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 05/2022 |
Description | Collaboration with Welsh Water |
Organisation | Welsh Water |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Data and knowledge sharing |
Collaborator Contribution | Data and knowledge sharing on water quality issues in the Conwy catchment |
Impact | Joint datasets |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | partnership with United Utilities |
Organisation | United Utilities Group PLC |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | sample analysis for SARS-CoV-2 |
Collaborator Contribution | sample collection, provision of data |
Impact | regular reports to DHSC |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | public engagement |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I have given lots and lots of radio and TV interviews on the subject of the award. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |