IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i24p16588-d999250.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Calibration of Methods for SARS-CoV-2 Environmental Surveillance: A Case Study from Northwest Tuscany

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Verani

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Ileana Federigi

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Sara Muzio

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Giulia Lauretani

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

  • Piergiuseppe Calà

    (Tuscany Region-Health, Department of Prevention Local Health Authority Tuscany Center, Via S. Salvi 12, 50135 Firenze, Italy)

  • Fabrizio Mancuso

    (Ingegnerie Toscane-Area R&D, Via Bellatalla 1, 56121 Pisa, Italy)

  • Roberto Salvadori

    (Acque S.p.A., Via A. Bellatalla 1, 56121 Pisa, Italy)

  • Claudia Valentini

    (Gaia S.p.A., Via Donizetti 16, 55045 Pietrasanta, Italy)

  • Giuseppina La Rosa

    (Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy)

  • Elisabetta Suffredini

    (Department of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy)

  • Annalaura Carducci

    (Laboratory of Hygiene and Environmental Virology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via S. Zeno 35/39, 56127 Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

The current pandemic has provided an opportunity to test wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as a complementary method to SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in the community. However, WBE infection estimates can be affected by uncertainty factors, such as heterogeneity in analytical procedure, wastewater volume, and population size. In this paper, raw sewage SARS-CoV-2 samples were collected from four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tuscany (Northwest Italy) between February and December 2021. During the surveillance period, viral concentration was based on polyethylene glycol (PEG), but its precipitation method was modified from biphasic separation to centrifugation. Therefore, in parallel, the recovery efficiency of each method was evaluated at lab-scale, using two spiking viruses (human coronavirus 229E and mengovirus vMC 0 ). SARS-CoV-2 genome was found in 80 (46.5%) of the 172 examined samples. Lab-scale experiments revealed that PEG precipitation using centrifugation had the best recovery efficiency (up to 30%). Viral SARS-CoV-2 load obtained from sewage data, adjusted by analytical method and normalized by population of each WWTP, showed a good association with the clinical data in the study area. This study highlights that environmental surveillance data need to be carefully analyzed before their use in the WBE, also considering the sensibility of the analytical methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Verani & Ileana Federigi & Sara Muzio & Giulia Lauretani & Piergiuseppe Calà & Fabrizio Mancuso & Roberto Salvadori & Claudia Valentini & Giuseppina La Rosa & Elisabetta Suffredini & Annalaura C, 2022. "Calibration of Methods for SARS-CoV-2 Environmental Surveillance: A Case Study from Northwest Tuscany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16588-:d:999250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16588/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16588/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Osvalda De Giglio & Francesco Triggiano & Francesca Apollonio & Giusy Diella & Fabrizio Fasano & Pasquale Stefanizzi & Marco Lopuzzo & Silvia Brigida & Carla Calia & Chrysovalentinos Pousis & Angelo M, 2021. "Potential Use of Untreated Wastewater for Assessing COVID-19 Trends in Southern Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-14, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matilde Fondriest & Lorenzo Vaccari & Federico Aldrovandi & Laura De Lellis & Filippo Ferretti & Carmine Fiorentino & Erica Mari & Maria Grazia Mascolo & Laura Minelli & Vincenza Perlangeli & Giuseppe, 2024. "Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for SARS-CoV-2 in Northern Italy: A Spatiotemporal Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16588-:d:999250. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.