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
Dancer SJ
(2021)
What is the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 from the use of public toilets?
in The Science of the total environment
Bivins A
(2020)
Wastewater-Based Epidemiology: Global Collaborative to Maximize Contributions in the Fight Against COVID-19.
in Environmental science & technology
Farkas K
(2020)
Wastewater and public health: the potential of wastewater surveillance for monitoring COVID-19.
in Current opinion in environmental science & health
Farkas K
(2020)
Viral indicators for tracking domestic wastewater contamination in the aquatic environment
in Water Research
Wade MJ
(2022)
Understanding and managing uncertainty and variability for wastewater monitoring beyond the pandemic: Lessons learned from the United Kingdom national COVID-19 surveillance programmes.
in Journal of hazardous materials
Ahmed W
(2020)
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater: Methods optimization and quality control are crucial for generating reliable public health information
in Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health
Jones DL
(2023)
Suitability of aircraft wastewater for pathogen detection and public health surveillance.
in The Science of the total environment
Fitzgerald SF
(2021)
Site Specific Relationships between COVID-19 Cases and SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load in Wastewater Treatment Plant Influent.
in Environmental science & technology
Jones DL
(2020)
Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in feces and urine and its potential role in person-to-person transmission and the environment-based spread of COVID-19.
in The Science of the total environment
Robins K
(2022)
Research needs for optimising wastewater-based epidemiology monitoring for public health protection.
in Journal of water and health
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 |