Occurrence of various viruses and recent evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater systems

Waqar Ali; Hua Zhang; Zhenglu Wang; Chuanyu Chang; Asif Javed; Kamran Ali; Wei Du; Nabeel Khan Niazi; Kang Mao; Zhugen Yang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125439

Occurrence of various viruses and recent evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater systems

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Jul 15:414:125439. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125439. Epub 2021 Feb 19.

Authors

Waqar Ali¹, Hua Zhang², Zhenglu Wang³, Chuanyu Chang¹, Asif Javed⁴, Kamran Ali⁵, Wei Du⁶, Nabeel Khan Niazi⁷, Kang Mao⁸, Zhugen Yang⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, PR China. Electronic address: zhanghua@mail.gyig.ac.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, PR China.
⁴ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (IESE), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCEE), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, PR China.
⁷ Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, PR China. Electronic address: maokang@mail.gyig.ac.cn.
⁹ Cranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Viruses are omnipresent and persistent in wastewater, which poses a risk to human health. In this review, we summarise the different qualitative and quantitative methods for virus analysis in wastewater and systematically discuss the spatial distribution and temporal patterns of various viruses (i.e., enteric viruses, Caliciviridae (Noroviruses (NoVs)), Picornaviridae (Enteroviruses (EVs)), Hepatitis A virus (HAV)), and Adenoviridae (Adenoviruses (AdVs))) in wastewater systems. Then we critically review recent SARS-CoV-2 studies to understand the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic through wastewater surveillance. SARS-CoV-2 genetic material has been detected in wastewater from France, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Japan, Spain, Turkey, India, Pakistan, China, and the USA. We then discuss the utility of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to estimate the occurrence, distribution, and genetic diversity of these viruses and generate human health risk assessment. Finally, we not only promote the prevention of viral infectious disease transmission through wastewater but also highlight the potential use of WBE as an early warning system for public health assessment.

Keywords: Human health hazards; SARS-CoV-2; Spatial distribution; Viruses; Wastewater.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Australia
COVID-19*
China
France
Humans
India
Italy
Japan
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2
Spain
Viruses*
Wastewater

Substances

Waste Water