SARS-CoV-2 Titers in Wastewater Are Higher than Expected from Clinically Confirmed Cases
Name
mSystems-2020-Wu-e00614-20.full.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
898.3 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Wu, Fuqing
Zhang, Jianbo
Xiao, Amy
Gu, Xiaoqiong
Lee, Wei Lin
Armas, Federica
Kauffman, Kathryn
Hanage, William
Matus, Mariana
Ghaeli, Newsha
Date Issued
July 2020
Journal
mSystems
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Citation
Wu, Fuqing et al. "SARS-CoV-2 Titers in Wastewater Are Higher than Expected from Clinically Confirmed Cases." mSystems 5, 4 (July 2020): e00614-20. © 2020 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Wastewater surveillance represents a complementary approach to clinical surveillance to measure the presence and prevalence of emerging infectious diseases like the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This innovative data source can improve the precision of epidemiological modeling to understand the penetrance of SARS-CoV-2 in specific vulnerable communities. Here, we tested wastewater collected at a major urban treatment facility in Massachusetts and detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the N gene at significant titers (57 to 303 copies per ml of sewage) in the period from 18 to 25 March 2020 using RT-qPCR. We validated detection of SARS-CoV-2 by Sanger sequencing the PCR product from the S gene. Viral titers observed were significantly higher than expected based on clinically confirmed cases in Massachusetts as of 25 March. Our approach is scalable and may be useful in modeling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and future outbreaks.
IMPORTANCE Wastewater-based surveillance is a promising approach for proactive outbreak monitoring. SARS-CoV-2 is shed in stool early in the clinical course and infects a large asymptomatic population, making it an ideal target for wastewater-based monitoring. In this study, we develop a laboratory protocol to quantify viral titers in raw sewage via qPCR analysis and validate results with sequencing analysis. Our results suggest that the number of positive cases estimated from wastewater viral titers is orders of magnitude greater than the number of confirmed clinical cases and therefore may significantly impact efforts to understand the case fatality rate and progression of disease. These data may help inform decisions surrounding the advancement or scale-back of social distancing and quarantine efforts based on dynamic wastewater catchment-level estimations of prevalence.
IMPORTANCE Wastewater-based surveillance is a promising approach for proactive outbreak monitoring. SARS-CoV-2 is shed in stool early in the clinical course and infects a large asymptomatic population, making it an ideal target for wastewater-based monitoring. In this study, we develop a laboratory protocol to quantify viral titers in raw sewage via qPCR analysis and validate results with sequencing analysis. Our results suggest that the number of positive cases estimated from wastewater viral titers is orders of magnitude greater than the number of confirmed clinical cases and therefore may significantly impact efforts to understand the case fatality rate and progression of disease. These data may help inform decisions surrounding the advancement or scale-back of social distancing and quarantine efforts based on dynamic wastewater catchment-level estimations of prevalence.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00614-20
