Assessment of rapid wastewater surveillance for determination of communicable disease spread in municipalities

Mohsen Asadi; Daniel Hamilton; Corwyn Shomachuk; Femi F Oloye; Chantel De Lange; Xia Pu; Charles A Osunla; Jenna Cantin; Seba El-Baroudy; Edgard M Mejia; Branden Gregorchuk; Michael G Becker; Chand Mangat; Markus Brinkmann; Paul D Jones; John P Giesy; Kerry N McPhedran

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166541

Assessment of rapid wastewater surveillance for determination of communicable disease spread in municipalities

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Nov 25:901:166541. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166541. Epub 2023 Aug 23.

Authors

Mohsen Asadi¹, Daniel Hamilton², Corwyn Shomachuk², Femi F Oloye³, Chantel De Lange³, Xia Pu³, Charles A Osunla³, Jenna Cantin³, Seba El-Baroudy³, Edgard M Mejia⁴, Branden Gregorchuk⁴, Michael G Becker⁴, Chand Mangat⁵, Markus Brinkmann⁶, Paul D Jones⁷, John P Giesy⁸, Kerry N McPhedran⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
² Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
³ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
⁴ JC Wilt Infectious Diseases Research Centre, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
⁵ Wastewater Surveillance Unit, On-Health Division, National Microbiology Laboratory - Winnipeg, Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada.
⁶ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
⁷ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
⁸ Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department of Environmental Sciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA; Department of Integrative Biology and Center for Integrative Toxicology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁹ Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Electronic address: kerry.mcphedran@usask.ca.

PMID: 37625717
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166541

Abstract

Wastewater surveillance (WS) helps to improve the understanding of the spread of communicable diseases in communities. WS can assist public health decision-makers in the design and implementation of timely mitigation measures. There is an increased need to use reliable, cost-effective, simple, and rapid WS systems, given traditional analytical (or 'gold-standard') programs are instrument/time-intensive, and dependent on highly skilled personnel. This study investigated the application of the portable GeneXpert platform for WS of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza A virus (IAV), influenza B virus (IBV), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The GeneXpert system with the Xpert Xpress-SARS-CoV-2/Flu/RSV test kit uses reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to analyze wastewater samples. From September 2022 through January 2023, wastewater samples were collected from the influents of municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTPs) of Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and North Battleford in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Both raw and concentrated wastewater samples were subjected to the GeneXpert analysis. Results showed that the Saskatoon wastewater viral loads were significantly correlated to Saskatchewan's influenza and COVID-19 clinical cases, with a lead time of 10 days for IAV and a lag time of 4 days for SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, the GeneXpert analysis of the three cities' wastewater samples showed that the raw WS could capture the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV due to their correlation with concentrated WS. Interestingly, IBV loads were not detected in any wastewater samples, while the Saskatoon and Prince Albert wastewater samples collected following the 2023 holiday season (end of December and beginning of January) were positive for RSV. This study indicates that the GeneXpert has excellent potential for use in the development of an early warning system for transmissible disease in municipalities and limited-resource communities while simultaneously providing stakeholders with an efficient WS methodology.

Keywords: COVID-19; Communicable diseases; Early warning system; GeneXpert; Influenza; RSV; Wastewater surveillance.