A rapid assessment of wastewater for genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants at sewershed scale in Louisville, KY

J L Fuqua; E C Rouchka; S Waigel; K Sokoloski; D Chung; W Zacharias; M Zhang; J Chariker; D Talley; I Santisteban; A Varsani; S Moyer; R H Holm; R A Yeager; T Smith; A Bhatnagar

doi:10.1101/2021.03.18.21253604

A rapid assessment of wastewater for genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants at sewershed scale in Louisville, KY

medRxiv [Preprint]. 2021 Mar 26:2021.03.18.21253604. doi: 10.1101/2021.03.18.21253604.

Authors

J L Fuqua^{1

2}, E C Rouchka^{3

4}, S Waigel⁵, K Sokoloski^{2

6}, D Chung^{2

6}, W Zacharias⁵, M Zhang⁷, J Chariker^{3

4}, D Talley⁸, I Santisteban^{1

2}, A Varsani⁹, S Moyer^{10

11}, R H Holm¹², R A Yeager^{12

13}, T Smith¹², A Bhatnagar¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville, 505 S. Hancock St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
² Center for Predictive Medicine, University of Louisville, 505 S. Hancock St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
³ Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Louisville, 522 East Gray St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
⁴ KY-INBRE Bioinformatics Core, University of Louisville, 522 East Gray St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
⁵ Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, 530 S. Hancock Jackson St., Louisville, KY 40402, United States.
⁶ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Louisville, 505 S. Hancock St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
⁷ Department of Neuroscience Training, University of Louisville, 505 S. Hancock St, Louisville, KY 40202.
⁸ Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District, Morris Forman Water Quality Treatment Center, 4522 Algonquin Parkway, Louisville KY 40211, United States.
⁹ The Biodesign Center of Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, School of Life Sciences, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Health Management and System Sciences, School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville, 485 E. Gray St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
¹¹ Department of Public Health and Wellness, Louisville Metro Government, 400 E. Grays St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
¹² Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, University of Louisville, 302 E. Muhammad Ali Blvd., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.
¹³ Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville, 485 E. Gray St., Louisville, KY 40202, United States.

Abstract

In this communication, we report on the genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 using wastewater samples in Jefferson County, KY. In February 2021, we analyzed seven wastewater samples for SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance. Variants observed in smaller catchment areas, such as neighborhood manhole locations, were not necessarily consistent when compared to associated variant results in downstream treatment plants, suggesting catchment size or population could impact the ability to detect diversity.

Publication types

Preprint

Grants and funding

P20 GM103436/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States